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Indian
Minister: Without Power, Talk Of Peace Has No Weight
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| "Pakistan
should not make mistake of bringing in the third party
mediation" |
By
Aamir Lathif, IOL’s correspondent in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD,
March 09 (Islam Online) - India has once again ruled out the
possibility of any third party mediation to resolve the lingering
Kashmir dispute between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Indian
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sushma Swaraj has
maintained that India and Pakistan should settle their disputes on
their own and that third party mediation is neither in the interest
of New Delhi nor Islamabad.
Speaking
at Pakistan Television's Newsnight Programme on Friday, Swaraj said
that all the issues including current tension could only be resolved
bilaterally
between the two countries.
"Whenever
the solution will be found it will be bilateral, howsoever long it
may take both our countries will resolve it bilaterally," she
added. Swaraj has been in Pakistan to attend 2nd South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Conference of
Information Ministers which started on March 7.
She
opposed the third party mediation on issues between India and
Pakistan. "Pakistan should not make mistake of bringing in the
third party mediation,because
the third one becomes Chaudhry and promotes his own interest,"
she observed.
Responding
to a question, Swaraj said Kashmir and terrorism are two separate
things. "We take the cross-border terrorism issue to the
international level, terrorism is not a bilateral issue now.
Bilateral issues will be resolved bilaterally. The governments will
sit and resolve issues not we. Both Pakistan and India had agreed
that there would be no judge in disputes between the two countries
and they will resolve their issues themselves."
To
a query, the minister said "the decision to deploy troops on
border was not taken in a haste. The situation was such that the
Indian government had to take that decision and the decision will
change only when the situation changes. We gave a list of 20 wanted
persons to Pakistan and when action will be taken on this
list,
the situation will also change."
Swaraj
said that the Indian government cannot immediately take a decision
on lifting of ban on use of airspace. "Musharraf is President
of Pakistan and he can take any decision but in India, it is not in
Prime Minister’s hand only. We have a Parliament, cabinet and
other forums where this decision was taken. We have to go to these
forums again for a review," she added.
She
said the SAARC conference was held in a pleasant atmosphere and
there was no reflection of tension between India and Pakistan."
"We
have proposed nuclear national security in our country. Despite
becoming a nuclear power, there is no change in our desire for peace
in the region," she
said
and added, "not just India, everyone wants to become powerful.
Without power, talk of peace seems to have no weight."
Swaraj
said, "do not look at our words, look at our actions. We come
to Lahore, we went to Pakistan Minaret which simply showed that we
accepted the existence of Pakistan. The Agra initiative was ours,
though there was no agreement there, because Pakistan was adamant
not to include cross-border terrorism
issue
in the draft. The agreement was not signed due to Pakistan’s
stubbornness."
When
asked whether she thinks bilateral issues were hindering the
regional cooperation as evident from twice postponing the SAARC
summit on New Delhi’s insistence in the recent past, she said
"what happened before will not be repeated in the context of
SAARC." However, she agreed that in the last few years the
SAARC forum could not be utilized to its potential.
Responding
to a question, Swaraj said the SAARC Charter did not provide for
discussion on bilateral issues. "If it comes to bilateral
issues then the SAARC Charter will have to be changed," she
added.
Swaraj
denied that the BJP government has hawks in its ranks, saying
"there are no hawks and no moderates." When told that the
Gujarat riots had claimed 1200 lives, Swaraj said that the communal
riots in Gujarat are a blot on India. "Our Prime Minister said
so, it is very painful, these riots were a blot," she added.
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