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Vajpayee
with Blair during his current European tour
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By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, October 14 (IslamOnline) - Following elections in Jammu and
Kashmir, pressure is growing, from both the U.S. and E.U., on India
and Pakistan to resume “dialogue on all outstanding issues,
including Jammu and Kashmir.”
Indian
news agency UNI on Monday, October 14, reported that India has
politely rejected a fresh U.S. appeal to resume dialogue with
Pakistan. The agency said U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleeza
Rice telephoned her Indian counterpart Brajesh Mishra and informed him
that Washington desired the resumption of the Indo-Pak dialogue, now
that both the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and the general
elections in Pakistan had been completed.
Condoleeza
was firmly told by her Indian counterpart that New Delhi was not in
position to hold talks with Pakistan until the neighboring country put
a permanent end to cross-border terrorism and infiltration.
Indian
deputy prime minister LK Advani Sunday indicated that the Indian
troops may be recalled from the borders following the high security
meeting on October 16. India thinks that such a move will deflect the
current pressure.
India
had thought that successful elections in Kashmir will help deflect
international pressure to solve the Kashmir issue but the very
opposite has happened: the world community is saying that now after
the elections India must initiate talks with Islamabad.
Reading
out a statement in the southern city of Bangalore Friday, U.S.
ambassador Robert D Blackwill on October 11 had said "a lasting
settlement, which reflected the needs of the Kashmiri people, could
only be achieved through dialogue."
The
statement, purported to be Bush administration’s reaction to Jammu
and Kashmir polls, said the U.S. hoped the dialogue would address
improvements in governance and human rights. The statement said the
U.S. would continue to make efforts to help India and Pakistan resolve
their differences.
Ambassador
Blackwill said the U.S. applauded the efforts of the Election
Commission and hoped that allegations of coercion by security forces
would be properly investigated.
The
same message was delivered in several European capitals during Prime
Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visits last week. He was told by the EU that
Indian foreign policy should not be Pakistan-centric.
India
has not taken well this friendly advice. Instead, it entrenched itself
in its position that Pakistan must stop what it calls “cross-border
terrorism” before a dialogue could begin
The
Indian ambassador to the United States, Lalit Mansingh, said Friday,
October 11, in Washington that India was prepared to accept the U.S.
as a “facilitator” rather than a “mediator” to help resolve
the Kashmir tangle.
Addressing
a conference of retired diplomats, Mansingh, reaffirmed India’s
support to the anti-terror campaign led by the U.S., but regretted
that as long as terrorism continued to be exported to India from
across its western border, the task remained unfinished.
Mansingh’s
clear hint was at Pakistan, which, according to him, was the
"epicenter" of terrorism. “The Taliban may have been
finished in Afghanistan, but our task of defeating terrorism remains
far from finished. Much of the infrastructure of terrorism remains,
its ideological soul alive and strong,” he alleged.
U.S.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday, September
11, the dialogue must begin in the wake of credible elections in
Kashmir. He said the U.S. was of the opinion that elections alone
would not solve the problem.
Japan
and France have also called for resumption of dialogue. A French
Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday, October 11, it was expected
the elections would “promote a dialogue soon.” In New York, State
Department deputy spokesperson Philip Reeker advised India and
Pakistan to restrain their nuclear missile program and avoid forward
deployment of operational nuclear missiles.
India
was advised by the European Union Thursday, October 10, at the
conclusion of the third India-EU summit to resume dialogue. EU was
reluctant to mention Pakistan’ s role in cross-border terrorism in
the joint statement, which India insisted on.
Instead
of obliging India, the EU urged resumption of direct talks between
India and Pakistan and de-escalation of tension in Kashmir. It said
“ all stakeholders” should participate in such talks.
Meanwhile,
India has decided to stick to its rigid position: no talks as long as
“ cross-border” terrorism continues.
