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Armitage Visits India Amid Reiteration of Old Positions
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Fernandes greeting US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in Delhi
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By
Md. Zeyaul Haque, Special to IslamOnline
NEW
DELHI, Aug 23 (IslamOnline) – U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage is visiting India for a day to further reduce the tension
prevailing between India and Pakistan.
Almost
as a fixed ritual, the major newspapers carried Friday, August 23,
statements of position apparently originating from official sources,
instead of being based on independent analysis.
This
is Armitage’s second visit in three months, the first one being
widely credited for having pulled both India and Pakistan away from a
war which could easily escalate into a nuclear exchange.
For
the Americans the visit is to further consolidate the gains of the
last visit. Although there is considerable de-escalation of tension
between the two countries following hectic Western diplomatic activity
in the region, dangers of a possible military conflict have not abated
fully.
Earlier
in the month there were hints of India trying to wriggle out of a
commitment to the Armitage visit saying Foreign Minister Yashwant
Sinha would not be in India to receive him. But the Americans remained
firm on the visit schedule.
India
has been complaining that Pakistan had not honored its commitment to
“stop” infiltration of militants into India from Pakistan. The
Pakistani side says it may not be possible to completely stop all
infiltration with the resources at its command.
Pakistan
says if India cannot stop infiltration with a far larger army and
other security forces, it cannot be supposed to be doing that with
much smaller resources. Americans say infiltration across the Line of
Control (LoC) into Indian Kashmir has reduced considerably, but not
stopped.
Nearly
a million troops are still massed on both sides of the border. Tension
on the Indo-Pak border hinders U.S.-led “anti-terror” campaign in
Afghanistan and Pakistan as the Pak troops needed for the U.S.-led
campaign have been deployed on the border with India. The U.S. does
not like the situation, nor is the West happy at the prospect of a
probable nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
Sections
of the Indian press close to the establishment hinted that India would
not like Armitage to broach the state-backed killing of 2000 Muslims,
the rape of hundreds of their women and destruction of thousands of
homes and businesses worth billions of rupees in the western state of
Gujarat.
Earlier
this week there were reports originating from the United States that
said their Commission on International Religious Freedom required that
Armitage take up with India the Gujarat pogrom against Muslims.
In
a letter to Armitage, Ms Felice Gaer, chairperson of the U.S.
Commission said, “The situation in Gujarat is highly volatile and
highly visible in the Indian press.” She added, “Clearly it is
important that the United States speak out publicly against such
religion-based extremist violence…”
The
Center and Gujarat government have refused to acknowledge the
suffering of Muslims. In both the ill-fated state and at the Center
the anti-minority Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rules.
Every
time there is a mention of the Gujarat carnage and suffering of
Muslims, the Center and Gujarat governments react unreasonably and
churlishly. When UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw mentioned the carnage
during one of his visits this year, India’s External Affairs
spokesperson publicly accused him of playing to the Muslim
constituency in Britain. That it was bad diplomacy conducted in bad
taste did not deter the establishment from describing Indian citizens
as the “other.”
India’s
liberal opinion would be offended if Armitage prefers to keep silent
on the Gujarat carnage under BJP pressure. BJP is touchy because many
of its functionaries stand accused for leading killer mobs in Gujarat.
There
is some convergence of opinion now between the U.S., Pakistan and
India regarding international terrorism. The US hopes that if
elections to Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly are peaceful and
fair, allowing maximum numbers of groups to participate, it will lead
to a final settlement of the issue.
One
of the conditions that the U.S. had put forward for facilitating an
Indo-Pak rapprochement and eventual solution to the Kashmir problem
was the freeing of all Kashmiri political prisoners in India. India
has not acted on it, and is likely to be reminded by Armitage, who
will leave for Pakistan on Saturday, August 24. On his part, Armitage
has kept distance from media during this visit.
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