The Hindu : `Cross-border terrorism has not ended'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 14, 2003

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`Cross-border terrorism has not ended'

Robert D. Blackwill

New Delhi June 13. The United States today frankly admitted that Pakistan had not stopped cross-border terrorism against India and vehemently denied that Washington was putting any pressure on New Delhi to send its troops to Iraq as part of the "stabilising forces" in the war-ravaged country.

"Terrorism emanating from Pakistan (against India) is not over. Global terrorism will not end until cross-border terrorism against India ends permanently," the U.S. Ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, told reporters here.

Disagreeing with suggestions that the U.S. was adopting double standards in measuring terrorism, he said, "a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist... they are killing innocent people."

Mr. Blackwill said the U.S. would do everything it could to see that terrorism emanating from Pakistan against India ended permanently. "Global terrorism will not end until terrorism against India ends permanently.'

On Mr. Advani's statement on Thursday that Pakistan was the epicentre of terrorism, he said "we are not going to associate ourselves with any particular articulation."

Asked whether Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, was not going soft on terrorist outfits, the Ambassador said, "this is a matter of judgment... he has been a close ally for us. Some 500 Al-Qaeda activists have been apprehended with the assistance of Pakistan''. The U.S. had the resolve and stamina to end terrorism. "Neither India nor the U.S. can accept terrorism for political purposes," he said.

Mr. Blackwill said the US would like India and Pakistan to move more rapidly towards the normalisation process. "The extraordinary statesmanship shown by Prime Minister Vajpayee in extending his hand of friendship to Pakistan hopefully will create enough political space for the two countries to move forward towards normalisation."The U.S., he said, would encourage a dialogue between the two countries but hastened to add that "the control process lies in the hands of India and Pakistan".

On the U.S. proposal that India send its troops to Iraq, Mr. Blackwill said the decision was entirely in New Delhi's hands.

"If India were to decide against sending troops to Iraq, this is not going to damage the Indo-U.S. relationship."

However, Indian troops would not be used for combat operations and would operate under the Indian flag if New Delhi decided to send its men to the war-torn nation.

The U.S. Ambassador said that his country would certainly want Indian troops to be part of the stabilising force as they were highly professional and very experienced in peacekeeping operations. Any decision on India's part to send its troops to Iraq would further enhance the Indo-US relationship.

The Pentagon team, scheduled to arrive here on Monday, was not coming with any brief, he said. "It is not coming here to suggest to India to decide one way or the other."

The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, currently in the U.S., had himself stated that the U.S. had not put any pressure on him to send Indian troops to Iraq, the Ambassador said. — UNI

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