'It Will Take Action, Further Action'

Jaswant Singh: Ladies and gentlemen of the press, good afternoon. I had the pleasure of,along with the Secretary of State, addressing the press yesterday. Wepromised to meet you today. The Secretary of State has had a full morning. Hehas also had, I believe, very fruitful, introductive morning’sdiscussions including with the Prime Minister. He will now shortly be leavingIndia. Before he left, I thought it is only proper that I thank him very much onmy personal behalf and on behalf of the Government of India for the courtesy ofhis visit to us. I would have hoped that it was a longer visit, that hestayed for longer. But he and I belong to a trade where leisure is absent.So, while I thank him very much for this, I can assure him that India remainscommitted to finding answers to the issues that confront us today.

Colin Powell: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister Jaswant, my friend. I once againthank you for your hospitality in receiving me. I agree with you that I had amost productive morning, especially my meeting with the Prime Minister. In thatmeeting I was able to again express our solidarity with the Indian people overthe events of the 11^th of September, the horrific event that shockedthe entire world and caused us all to rededicate ourselves to the propositionthat terrorism must be destroyed wherever it exists in the world. As you know,this has been the hallmark of President Bush’s campaign against terrorism.

I was alsoencouraged by my conversations with Foreign Minister Mr. Singh and Mr. Mishraand the Prime Minister that we can continue to pursue progressively thediplomatic track as a way of bringing an end to the current tense situation thatexists between India and Pakistan which changed a number of ideas as to how wecan move forward. I leave here very encouraged that we can find a solution tothis troubling situation. So, I thank you my colleague, for your courtesyin receiving me and welcome questions from the press.

Jaswant Singh: I want to, Colin with your permission, just add one more… The centralmessage that the Prime Minister, or the central thought that the Prime Ministershared with the Secretary of State was that in the India-Pakistan context, themost important aspect now today, or even later, is the earliest restoration ofmutual confidence between the two countries. Once confidence is restoredbetween the two countries, everything else will fall in place, and will thenbecome so much easier to act upon. I thought I will share that.

Question (Ms. Andrea Mitchell, NBC): Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. Secretary …

Colin Powell: No, no!

Jaswant Singh: No. I think this is the second time this is happening. … I am going tolose my job!

…(Laughs)…

Question (Ms. Andrea Mitchell, NBC): Mr. Foreign Minister, I am very sorry. Myapologies. The question is to both of you. How do you restore confidence?How do you get satisfaction that there won’t be cross border raids? And howcan you be persuaded that President Musharraf has done enough to satisfy youthat he is controlling the situation? Mr. Secretary, do you see that thereis clear indication that India is not yet prepared to take any steps to restorethe status quo ante before all this happened?

Jaswant Singh: I must answer the first part of it. How do you restore confidence? Thisis not a philosophical question when it comes to discussing bilateral relationsbetween nations particularly. Confidence is a factor that is borne of actionsand it would be, I do not think India is working on the basis of what additionalsteps General Pervez Musharraf can take. He is the President of a sovereigncountry and whatever steps he takes are really the steps that he determines asthe President of Pakistan in the interest of Pakistan. But, when it comes totaking steps towards normalization of relations with India, then there arecertain aspects that we have now given public voice to. I don’tnecessarily have to keep repeating them. It is India’s expectation,these are not conditions but this are expectations, that the moment there isaction in these regard, there has already been some action which India haswelcomed, and there is action in regard to the 20 wanted terrorists andcriminals, then I am very hopeful that there would be distinct movement towardsmoving to a situation which would be a situation similar to what existed beforethe 13^th of December.

Colin Powell: I certainly agree with what the Foreign Minister has said.President Musharraf gave a very important speech last Saturday. He gave to thepeople of Pakistan, the people of international community, the people of India,a new vision of Pakistan where he wants to take his country. That speech waswell received here in India and throughout the world. But, both here in Indiaand throughout the world, we also said we have to see action. We have seenaction with respect to the detention of extremists, over 1900, the closing ofextremist organizations and their offices, and a number of other steps that areencouraging. We have also seen some efforts with respect to controlling activityacross the Line of Control.

To go to theheart of your question, we will know when things stop happening over the Line ofControl and things stop happening over the line of control. As theForeign Minister said, we have seen some important words said and importantactions taken. If we continue to see progress in that regard, then I expect wewill see steps taken on the part of the Indian Government. As the Prime Ministeralso noted with respect to the list of 20, this is an issue of continuingdiscussion with the Pakistani Government. As President Musharraf said in hisspeech, he doesn’t rule out appropriate action against those non-Pakistanicitizens who are on that list of 20. Additional information has been provided tothe Pakistani Government and a copy of that information was given to us.We hope that President Musharraf, as he has said in the past, will examine allthat information and do what is the appropriate thing to do in the case of eachone of those 20 individuals. So, I think we are on a path that could lead to therestoration of dialogue and the kind of confidence building activities that theForeign Minister spoke of. But it will take action, further action, beforewe really start walking down that path more aggressively.

Question (Dr. Awad, Midle-East Broadcasting Corporation): My question is for both. Mr.Jaswant Singh, I will start with you first. India has been saying foryears, this is India’s position, of the cross border terrorism and the listhas been recently added to your list of asking Pakistanis to oblige to this.But what is new from the American side? Does the Americans have any newassurance that it is enough to resume the dialogue again? Or, is there anytimeframe for that to start?

Colin Powell: What we would all like to say is that as soon as possible. But itis a judgment for the Indian Government to make. Their assurances have to beassurances that they estimate, not me to provide. So, I think, we are on a paththat will take us where we want to go. What we have to do is to bepatient, to remain committed to the diplomatic track, to recognize that this isthe time of high tension when you have military forces in proximity to oneanother. And we also have to be mindful of the fact that there are probablypeople out there who might want to create another incident, to cause aconflagration. We have to be sensitive to that. So, we will continueto work in the direction that we have been working for the last several weeksand continue to build on the progress that we have seen in the last several daysand especially in the last week.

Jaswant Singh: I don’t think it is a question of assurances. It is really India andPakistan that have to resolve this issue. What United States of Americahas done and is doing currently is a global fight against terrorism. Thatis what President Bush has announced. In this fight against terrorism weare all united. There is a coalition of which Pakistan is a valuablepartner as also India. In this fight against terrorism, now that Pakistan- the President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf - has announced furtheractions in regard to terrorist activities, of course India welcomed it at thevery first opportunity. All that we are saying is that whatever you haveannounced as action against terrorists, we wish to see on the ground asdemonstrably or recognizably present. That is why, the Prime Minister emphasizedthe aspect of confidence between the countries.

Question (Mr. George Gedda, AP): Mr. Secretary, I believe you said last night when you wereasked, that you had certain steps to ease tensions. Would you elaborate on thattoday?

Colin Powell: Like I had said, I had certain ideas. We discussed various ideasin several baskets as I will call them. One basket might be rhetoric andlanguage that is used on both sides in this time of tension; second basket mightbe to examine the various diplomatic and political steps that had been taken inthe course of the four and a half weeks since the 13^th of December;then finally ways to consider de-escalating from the military steps taken. Butthese were just suggestions of ways we can move forward without trying to getany agreement on them at this time because agreement will come in due course asconfidence is restored, as the Foreign Minister says. Confidence will berestored as a result of words stated and actions taken in consistence with thosewords. I think we are off to a pretty good start over the last week. Let us seewhere this start takes us.

Question :(Venkatnarayan, ITN) Mr. Powell, I understand that General Musharraf is due to visit Washingtonsometime next month. Do you expect the resumption of India-Pakistandialogue before he actually goes to Washington?

Colin Powell: This is not a function of the calendar. With respect to his visitto the United States, it is a function of what progress we see with respect tothe actions taken. Whether the resumption of dialogue takes place before then,or after then is a matter that has to be resolved between the Indians and thePakistanis, not the United States.

Question : (Ms. Barbara Ross-Slavin, USA TODAY) Mr. Foreign Minister, are you saying thatwithout some concrete action on the 20, we will not see any steps from India,any resumption of dialogue? Can you tell me, do you have any information,as to whether any of those 20 are in custody? If so, how many and whatnationality?

Jaswant Singh: So far as the other definitions and details that you have announced, theywere really your words. I wouldn’t be able to share every description that youhave used. Please understand that in this fight against terrorism when Indiasays stop cross border terrorism, abandon the pursuit of terrorism as aninstrument of State policy, these are no so much demands as enunciations ofclear principles of bilateral conduct in the situation in which terrorism is aglobal menace.

So far as these20 terrorists are concerned, 14 of them are Indian citizens. They arewanted for most heinous crimes from bombing, terrorist activities,abduction, kidnapping to narcotic smuggling. What else you want meto list? The details of where they are in Pakistan, etc., have all beengiven. They are known as wanted terrorists. They are in fact written aboutin Pakistani journals themselves. It is not as if they are hiding in some cavesin Karachi. There are, alas! no caves in Karachi for them to hide.So, therefore, they are in fact visible to the Pakistani establishment.

Question(Mr. Atul Aneja, The Hindu): My question is to Mr. Jaswant Singh. In yourearlier press conference you had mentioned that termination of infiltrationacross the Line of Control and international border is one of the expectationsfrom India. Does that continue?

Jaswant Singh: Of course, it does. It is an extremely perilous exercise to appear beforethe press in such frequency because your past statement is thrown back at youlike - ‘you had asked, do you still stand with it?’ It is not possiblefor me to list everything. But, of course, when I say ‘abandon crossborder terrorism’, how do you measure it? You measure it on the Line ofControl. We know what infiltration takes place. We know it on adaily basis. Therefore, if that is stopped, it will immediately be recognized.If I haven’t repeated it this morning, it doesn’t mean India’s stand ischanged. Please!

Question : (Mr. Todd Purdum, The New York Times): Mr. Foreign Minister, the Prime Minister saidyesterday that Pakistan will be accountable for any further violence because itwas not a democracy and the control was from the top. In line with that, what isthe response of the Government of India to the latest market bomb yesterday inJammu and Kashmir? Do you have any idea who is behind that? Does it have anyimplications for this continuing process of your relations with Pakistan?

Secretary Powell, if you could just respond with any comment about the latestreciprocal violence in the Middle-East.

Jaswant Singh: The kind of mindless bombing in the civilian part of Jammu that tookplace yesterday is part of the pattern of terrorist activity. TheGovernment has sought a detailed report in this regard. I am also, theGovernment is also, very mindful of the fact that in this present situationwhich is critically balanced there could well be demented elements that wish tofurther destabilize the situation in the region and they could well indulge inacts of violence. The Government of India fully takes this into account indetermining and giving voice to its response. What has happened in Jammu isunacceptable. It is terrorist violence. It has got nothing to do with any kindof so-called freedom fight. It is a blatantly terrorist act directedagainst civilian population. We have sought a report. The Government willtake full and adequate steps in that regard.

Colin Powell: Obviously I condemn and the United States Government condemns whathappened yesterday. Innocent people coming together for celebration of awonderful event in the lives of people and it was interrupted by a terrorist, amurderer, who killed seven people and wounded so many more. We condemnthis act.

We condemn thiskind of senseless violence that keeps us from finding a way forward towards aceasefire and toward entry into the Mitchell peace plan which will lead tonegotiations between Israelis and Palestinians that will hopefully, at the endof such negotiations, for the creation of Palestinian state. This kind ofsenseless violence does nothing but destroy innocent lives and leads nowhere andwe condemn it.