'About The Indian Troops, Nobody Has Asked Us'

Transcript of the press-conference given by Natwar Singh with Colin Powell, after their meeting 

Colin Powell: I've just had a delightful conversation with my new colleague,Natwar Singh, the Minister of External Affairs of India. He is reminding me on the way out the door of ourfirst meeting some 17 years ago when I was National Security Advisor and we were talking about PresidentReagan. And I am very honored that the Minister is here to participate in the memorial service for PresidentReagan tomorrow and it gave me the opportunity to have a good first meeting with him.

Every occasion on which I've visited India over the last several years, some three times, I believe, I didhave a chance to meet with Mrs. Gandhi, and Natwar was always present at those meetings, as was the PrimeMinister. So we know each other and we look forward to working with each other.

In our meeting just now, we discussed the full range of bilateral and regional issues. But I would just saythe most important issue we touched on was the fact that the United States and India has a very good, strongrelationship right now and we intend to not only keep it strong but to build on that relationship, to moveforward.

The Minister said to me that he planned to move very, very fast, and I said I would do my best to keep upwith him, because it is in the interest of the American people and the people of India that we move forward onour economic relationship, our security relationship, and we stay in close touch with one another as we workon regional problems.

And so, Natwar, it's a great pleasure to have you here. I thank you for coming to represent your governmentand I invite you to say a few words.

Natwar Singh:Thank you, Secretary of State. I wish I had come here on another occasion and not so sad an occasion as I haveto represent the Government of India at the funeral of a President who was greatly admired and loved in India.An odd quirk of history, I was in Washington for the funeral of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

As the Secretary said, we had a very frank, wide-ranging, lively, occasionally amusing discussion on everysingle aspect of our relationship. I have also informed him about the change of government in India and thatwe intend to continue the policies that we have followed for 57 years. There has been a broad nationalconsensus on India's foreign policy. That will continue. And we've hit the road running and I continue to doso. And since the Secretary of State is ten years younger than me, I'll have to run very hard.

We also discussed the situation in various parts of the world and how it affected them and how it affectedus, and there was broad agreement except for on one or two areas. And with your permission, sir, since it ismy first visit, I don't really want to put my foot into it and I'll leave it out.

I have come to represent the Government of India on this sad occasion. The passing away of President RonaldReagan has been widely mourned in India. President Reagan played an important role in strengthening Indo-U.S.relations. He and Mrs. Reagan received with great form Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during her visit toWashington in 1982. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi counted President and Mrs. Reagan amongtheir friends. I personally had the honor of being received by the President at the White House on twooccasions and have always cherished the memory. In his passing away, India has lost a steadfast friend, theUnited States an inspiring leader, the world an outstanding statesman.

My visit also comes at a time when India and United States are witnessing a period of close engagement inour bilateral relations. Our relations are expanded in scope and depth and my government is determined to workclosely with the U. S. Administration to take this partnership forward in all areas. Both our countries haveclear commonalities in shaping a democratic and pluralistic world order free of terrorism.

Finally, the Prime Minister and my colleagues in the cabinet and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, who is the Chairpersonof the Steering Committee of the United Progressive Alliance, have sent their condolences and have also conveyed theirgood wishes to you.

Colin Powell: Thank you, Mr. Minister.

Question: Mr. Secretary, India has strongly endorsed the recently passed UN resolution on Iraq. Did you bring up theintroduction of Indian -- did you request the introduction of Indian peacekeeping forces to Iraq?

And, Mr. Minister, now that the UN resolution has been passed, will you consider providing such troopsunder the UN umbrella?

Colin Powell: We are very pleased that the Indian Government showed such strong support for the resolution. And as youknow, there are a number of requests out for support to the multinational force effort and we did talk aboutit, but I would yield to the Minister for what he would care to say about the conversation or thedeliberations that are taking place within the Indian Government.

Natwar Singh: Well, as you know, we have been following events in Iraq with very great interest. And we are delighted thatthe United States and the United Kingdom tabled a resolution in the Security Council which has been unanimousadopted. That's a welcomed step and we have always been in favor of the United Nations being involved in acentral responsibility along with their friends and other members of the Security Council.

With regard to the question you asked about the Indian troops, nobody has asked us. We'll look at theresolution very minutely. We are not in the Security Council. And we'll take a decision when the time comes.

Question: Mr. Secretary, given the fact that we now know there was a spike in terrorist activity in 2003, can theAdministration credibly claim that the war on terrorism is being won?

Colin Powell: As you know, the terrorism report that you're making a reference to, we found errors in it and those errorswill be corrected. And it reflects an intensity of activity and we'll see what the corrected report lookslike.

Nobody has suggested that the war on terrorism has been won; quite the contrary, the President has made itclear that it is a war that continues and that we have to redouble our efforts, and that's why we're workingwith all of our friends around the world on law enforcement activities, on intelligence exchanges, on militaryaction when it comes to it, and certainly police action, to go after terrorists.

And our goal with respect to reports such as the report you're making reference to, our annual terrorismreport, is to give the American people the facts. And we are rechecking those facts and I think I will waituntil I see the revised report before making any comment on the trends that are reflected in the revisedreport from last year's report.

Natwar Singh: Just one second, if I might just go back on the resolution on Iraq. We are a coalition government so thematter will have to be discussed by the government and by the cabinet committee on security. There is aresolution of the last parliament on this issue in which we had given our opinion that we were against sendingtroops to Iraq. Now the situation is changed. There is a resolution unanimously passed in United Nations andthere are Arab members in it. We'll look at it very carefully. But I must emphasize that this matter will haveto be placed before the government at the highest levels so it would be premature for me to say yea or nay.

Question: As far as terrorism is concerned, as we speak now, Mr. Secretary, terrorism in Kashmir still goes on, as youhave been saying in the past that General Musharraf made many promises to you. Terrorism went down, you said,last year and several months ago. But it has gone up now, even on the first day of the new government inIndia.

And secondly, how you think you will have interaction with the new government, because you never expected,I believe, that BJP or Atal Behari Vajpayee will lose or that this new government will come in power? How willyou interact with the new government as far as many issues that we have been working on?

Colin Powell: With respect to the first question, I think we have seen that the rate has gone down and we continue tomonitor that rate and we continue to express our concern about the infrastructure that remains behind.

With respect to the new government, the people of India have spoken. India is a great democracy and we willwork with the government that people of India have selected. And we have demonstrated, I think, out here todaythat will be a warm, productive relationship that is intended to move us forward and to build an even strongerrelationship with India.

We don't place bets on elections. I've learned that long ago. And we will now support the government andwork with the government that the Indian people have decided upon.

Question: The United States -- it has emerged that the United States is investigating whether or not Libya was -- had aplot to actually assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah. Given that you're investigating this, does it mean thatyou still think you can trust Colonel Qadhafi?

Colin Powell: Well, as you said, we are looking into this matter. I don't know, really, what the facts are or the truths ofthe matter are, and it would be premature to make a judgment.

Mr. Qadhafi knows what is expected of his government with respect to terrorist activities. A roadmap hasbeen put out there that is well understood by the Libyan Government and certainly by us. And so let's keeplooking into this matter to see what we can learn of it and see where the truth lies before making a judgmentas to what it means.