'We Are Not Preparing For War'

Ray Suarez Tensions between India and Pakistan have been rising sharplyever since Kashmiri militants attacked India's parliament building in New Delhion December 13. Both sides have been mobilizing their military forces along theborders, and there has been constant shelling between the armies.

For India's perspective, we go to Advani India's Home Minister. He met withPresident Bush today.
Mr. Minister, welcome.

What did you talk about with the president?

Using Diplomatic Pressure

Advani: Naturally we talked about terrorism in the world and how theUnited States and India could cooperate in combating terrorism and stamping outthis evil.

Ray Suarez Recently, when President Musharraf of Pakistan orderedarrests and crackdowns on various groups inside Pakistan, President Bush said hewas very encouraged by that development, and hoped India was, too. What has theIndian reaction been to those gestures from Pakistan?

Advani When they arrested the leaders of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkare-Tayyiba, the two organizations responsible for the attack on India'sparliament, we welcomed it as a move in the right direction.

But we also took note of the fact that the first reactions from Pakistan werethat this event has been engineered by India's own security forces; or secondly,these two organizations have been named only in order to malign the Kashmirfreedom movement. And therefore, we felt that what has been done by Pakistan isessentially a tactical move because of Washington's pressure.

Incidentally, I will mention that your observation that Kashmiri militantsattacked the Indian parliament is factually not correct, because all the fiveterrorists who attacked the Indian parliament belonged to Pakistan. None of themhad anything to do with Kashmir. These are facts which, if they known to theworld, then the kind of terrorism we are confronting, it would be seen in theproper perspective.

Ray Suarez So the response from Pakistan to these attacks has not beencredible to India, and thus, you're still preparing for war?

Advani We are not preparing for war, but what we know is that a warhas been inflicted on us of a different kind for the last 20 years in which warthe enemy is unknown, and in which the enemy gets support and sustenance fromPakistan, comes across to our part of the world and there indulges in sabotage,in terrorism, in killing innocent people.

And therefore, we have to frame a response different from the response wehave been giving for the last so many years. And it is, therefore, that after13th of December, we felt that the situation calls for a different response. Andwe have till now taken a series of steps... calibrated steps on the diplomaticlevel to put pressure on Pakistan, and we believe that this pressure,accompanied by international opinion, would help us resolve the problem.

Ray Suarez There have been many references to state-sponsored terrorismcoming from Indian leaders. What, in the view of the government of India, is thenature of the support of Pakistan's government for terrorism?

Advani The Pakistan government has been financing terrorists. ThePakistan government has been supplying them arms. The Pakistan government hasbeen facilitating their entry across the line of control, across theinternational border into India, something that is impossible without thegovernment's support.

I would say that with the armies lying on both sides of the line of control,or the international border, it is impossible even for a stray dog to comeacross the line unless it is facilitated by the government on the other side.

And therefore, in my demands that I have made publicly yesterday here, I havementioned these financing, arming, training and enabling infiltration; plus, ofcourse, I have been of the view that those who have found asylum in Pakistan,those who have been guilty of committing crimes, committing violence, bombing,et cetera in India and whoever has been given asylum in Pakistan, those 20terrorists, most of them named by the Interpol, should be handed over to India.

Ray Suarez Pakistanis have suggested that the Indian government either doesnot appreciate or doesn't wish to credit how difficult it is for Pakistan, givenits domestic situation, to come down hard on these groups, given the passionsinside Pakistan for the eventual absorption of Kashmir.

Advani Far more difficult for Pakistan was to disown and de-linkitself from Taliban. But pressed hard, Taliban is their creation. Taliban is thecreation of Pakistan's ISI. And yet, when the world stood up against Taliban andAmerica mobilized world opinion against it, and America put pressure on Pakistanto de-link itself from Taliban, it did it. I see that the... India's concernsbeing addressed by the international community are of a different nature and arecertainly simpler than what Pakistan had to do in case of Taliban.

SettlingDisputes By Dialogue

Ray Suarez Well, I'm wondering how your two countries-- and now, twonuclear-armed countries-- craft a future for a place like Kashmir that they havetwo mutually contradictory views of?

Advani And therefore, it was that after a series of wars between Indiaand Pakistan, at Shimla we made a final agreement that hereafter, we will haveno wars. We will discuss Jammu and Kashmir. There is a wide gulf... differentperceptions of the two countries.

We'll try to sort them out by dialogue. India is keen that we adhere to thatShimla agreement, discuss and debate the issues of Jammu and Kashmir, see how wecan narrow the differences. But in the meanwhile, we urge General Musharraf topledge that these shall not be held hostage to the resolution of thesedifferences.

Ray Suarez But I'm wondering what a possible future could look like, giventhe fact that for many Indians, that place is part and parcel of India, and formany Pakistanis, it is similarly part and parcel of Pakistan, should be and theyfeel that it should have been all the way since partition.

Advani: This is hardly an occasion where I could explain at lengthwhat really are the nuances of the Jammu-Kashmir issue. But all that I can sayin the affirm is that a resolution of this dispute has to be by dialogue. Itcannot be by war; either direct or proxy, either covert or overt. It has to beeither by peaceful dialogue and negotiation.

War Becomes Unthinkable

Ray Suarez You, yourself, were born, grew up in, was educated in what is nowPakistan. You remember pre-partition India as a young adult. Does this make waron one level unthinkable for you?

Advani That's right. That's right, exactly. You've mentioned a point,which I emphasized as strongly as I could when General Musharraf came to Delhisix months back. He had been invited by Prime Minister Vajpayee.

And when he came to Delhi, the first question I asked him, "General,you've come to Delhi after how long a period?" He said, "I've comeafter 54 years." And I said, "is it not an irony that you've been bornin Delhi, and yet you visited Delhi for the first time in 54 years? I have beenborn in Karachi, and I have visited Karachi only once in 54 years. Is this not asituation that you and I must strive to change?"

And we can change it. I said, "With this government in office here ledby Vajpayee, the chances of changing the situation are maximum." But theminimum requirement is that terrorism must stop. The minimum requirement is thatwe both must pledge that we'll have no war, overt or covert, direct or proxy, onthe issue of Jammu and Kashmir. We'll discuss Jammu and Kashmir.

Ray Suarez Minister, thanks for being with us.

Advani: Thank you.

(Courtesy, the Embassy of India in Washington)