'No Room For Any Third Party Involvement'

Nirupama Rao: Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen. There are no announcements or press releases for today. I will justbriefly give you information on the visit of H.E. the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Mr. M. Morshed Khan, whohas held talks with the External Affairs Minister Shri Jaswant Singh today in New Delhi.

The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh was accompanied by H.E. the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in India,Mr. T.K. Haider, the Director General for South Asia, Mr. Mehmood Hassan and the Director in the ForeignMinister’s office, Mr. M.S. Rehman and other officials of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi. OurExternal Affairs Minister was assisted by Foreign Secretary, Ms. Chokila Iyer, Secretary (West) Mr. K. Sibaland other senior officials.

The talks were held in a very cordial and constructive atmosphere followed by a working lunch hosted by theExternal Affairs Minister. During the discussions the whole gamut of India-Bangladesh relations were discussedand reviewed.

You will recall that this is the first visit of the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, after the newGovernment took charge in Bangladesh last October and the occasion provided both sides with the opportunity togo over topical and important issues in their relationship, and to discuss the situation in the region.

In addition to the discussions between the two Foreign Ministers, the Bangladesh Foreign Minister also hada fairly lengthy meeting with the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Brajesh Mishra. He is meetingthe Leader of the Opposition this afternoon and Mr. I.K. Gujral, former Prime Minister and following that hecalls on the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee and then returns to Dhaka.

That is the list of his meetings here. Rather than go over the whole details of what was discussed today,maybe I could take some questions from you which I think that will be a better way to address this issue.

Did the India-Pak tensions also figure in the talks?

The subject did figure and our Minister did inform the Bangladesh side of our concerns and about the focusbeing on the war against terrorism, our concerns in that regard and the fact that all issues pertaining to theIndia- Pakistan relationship should and can only be discussed bilaterally between India and Pakistan and thatit is necessary for the world to understand that this is indeed the only manner in which issues can bediscussed between India and Pakistan and that there is no room for any third party involvement.

This issue was recognized by the Government of Bangladesh. There is no difference of opinion in this issue.Both sides were also agreed that there was no room again for the involvement of any regional organisation forinstance the SAARC, in such issues. So that matter was very clearly and unambiguously stated by our side andit was accepted by the Bangladesh Foreign Minister and his delegation.

Did the issue of terrorist camps in the North- East also figure in the talks?

It was discussed, not in very great detail but the Bangladesh Government was made aware of our concerns onthis issue and they have assured us of the fact that from their side they will do everything necessary toensure that the soil of Bangladesh is not used by elements, by groups, by individuals who are inimical toIndia and act against the interest of India. So again I think there was a meeting of minds on this issue.

Can we expect that tension in the India-Pakistan border will continue as such, till the elections inSeptember, in Kashmir?

Our expectations are that Pakistan should take concrete action to end infiltration, dismantle theinfrastructure of terrorism, to act on the basis of the demands that we have made. Pakistan, it is true, hasmade certain assurances in this regard, but we need to see, to verify, to ascertain how best Pakistantranslates these assurances into action on the ground and it is still too early to form any definitiveassessments in that regard. So I would not be led into providing any prognosis or giving you any sort of graphof what is expected or what might ensue or what could happen, except to say that we are vigilant and wecontinue to verify the situation on the ground and our focus continues to be on the struggle againstterrorism. India is unflagging in its determination to fight terrorism.

Today the Foreign Minister of Pakistan has stated that Pakistan will reciprocate if India withdraws itstroops from the border. What is our response?

I think you should address this question to the Defence Ministry as far as far as military de-escalation isconcerned. All that really depends on how that situation unfolds, how it develops as far as the infiltrationand cross-border terrorism is concerned. I mean you have a situation along the LoC and in areas adjoining theLoC in Jammu & Kashmir and in the valley of Kashmir, where there have been continuos attempts, effortsindeed over a period of time now, established over the years by elements supported, aided, abetted by thePakistani State to violate the atmosphere of stability, law and order in Jammu & Kashmir, to interferewith the lives of ordinary citizens. So you will understand that until and unless we see an abatement, we seean end, we see a reduction and then definitely an end to such activity, it is too premature indeed to talkabout military de-escalation.

After today’s acknowledgement by the Defence Minister about seeing perceptible change, do we stillmaintain the same position?

Perceptible change, but that does not as yet provide us with the comfort of coming to the conclusion thatthis is a permanent shift in position. We have of course acknowledged the fact that Pakistan has made certainassurances, we have welcomed that, we have said that we will respond to that appropriately and positively asindeed we did early last week when we announced the lifting of the ban on overflights. India will not be foundwanting in terms of responding positively to concrete steps taken by Pakistan. But you will appreciate thefact that this is a sequence and this is based and dependent on the kind of action we see from Pakistan.

According to reports in today’s Dainik Jagran, PM said that we were prepared for a nuclear war…?

No infact I am aware of this article and I have read through it, I have gone through it with a fine toothedcomb and I am afraid all of you are basing your assumptions on the introduction to that article or rather thetitle of that article, because if you read the text…(interruption), no what he said here is ‘Bharat andikyudh ke liye bhi tayar tha, kintu vishwas tha ki padosi aisa pagal pan nahi karega. Sansar ke desh Pak ke baremein tho vishwas karne ke liye tayar nahin the, lekin Bharat par unka bharosa tha.’ You see the difference,please read it in context… 'antar rashtriya dabao me Pak ke pratinidhi ko sanyukt rashtra sang mein atomiehatyaron ke prayog karne kee dhamki ko khule aam wapas lena pada. Usse Pak ka akramak swarup duniya ke samneujagar ho giya'.

Let us look at the context, let us look at the sequence of the statements that were made and let us readexactly what is here. It is very clear from this that it was Pakistan that indulged in irresponsible, waywardtalk about the nuclear option, about the threat of use of nuclear weapons, about nuclear blackmail. It wasIndia that had consistently been responsible, been mature, been balanced in its approach to this issue andindeed that it was Pakistan that had to eat its words, that had to withdraw from the stand it had taken onceit sensed how dangerous this talk was, how irresponsible and immature the attitude it had adopted was. That isvery clear from this.

Time Asia in its article had said that the nuclear button is in wrong hands. Please comment.

I have seen that article. I think it is completely without foundation, it is baseless, it is ill advised,it certainly doesn’t fall into the category of the kind of reporting that is expected from Time Magazine andour views in this regard have been made well known to the editors of Time. It is a completely biased and illinformed article.

Did any concrete trade talks figure between the two Foreign Ministers of India and Bangladesh?

We were not indulging in trade talks. These were talks between the Foreign Ministers. A general policydirection was provided and as I emphasized earlier, there was a political will, very clearly articulated fromboth sides that the two countries needed to move on with the business of building more bridges in terms ofeconomic cooperation, in facilitating more trade, in building more confidence between the business communitiesof the two sides, in providing for easier transit and transportation
links. You are aware of the whole climate of opening up for instance to South-East Asia, the process ofbuilding better transportation links with Myanmar and other countries of South-East Asia. This was spokenabout and it was felt from both sides that the obstacles, the kind of road blocks that you see from time totime in building better transit and transportation links between the two sides must be removed. Indeed theclimate of the times demands that and it is very clear from the discussions that there is a clearly expressedpolitical will to ensure that this is indeed implemented and that such ties are better facilitated.

From the Bangladesh side there were charges that some militants are working on the Indian soil…?

I don’t believe any charges were leveled in the sense of what you are saying now. We did talk, as Imentioned earlier about the reported activities of certain North-Eastern insurgent groups in Bangladesh. Therewas no real mention byBangladesh of any similar groups operating on our side, although it was very clear fromthe discussion that it was the intention of both governments not to stand in the way of the completion ofinvestigations in the location of such persons and in ensuring that such elements do not use the porousborder, we have a 4096 Km long border between India and Bangladesh, and both sides do their level best toensure it is well policed and well guarded. But you find as a result of the porousness in some parts of theborder that such elements are moving across and both sides were agreed that this sort of movement needs to bestemmed, needs to be stopped, needs to be guarded against and that was really what we discussed.

Demarcation of border…is there any obstruction in this regard?

There again the two Ministers were agreed that this should be completed as soon as possible. Any obstaclesto that should be removed. The two sides have met recently and they have discussed the issue. No, these aremore procedural difficulties, more a sort of reconciliation of certain minor differences between the twosides. I wouldn’t really put it down to any large or insuperable difficulties and I believe that both sidesare clearly determined to come to a satisfactory settlement of this issue.

Is Bangladesh now abandoning its frequent offer for mediation?

During the discussions today there was no talk really of any offers for mediation and I think it was madequite clear from the point of view of India that these issues between India and Pakistan can best and indeedcan only be discussed bilaterally between the two countries and that the issue, the question of thepossibility of third party mediation does not arise at all and that view has been very unequivocally andunambiguously stated, as indeed India has done to other countries also. It was very clear that this where westood on the matter and from the point of view of Bangladesh there was acceptance of this point of view.

Any further movement on any other demands made by India to Pakistan?

On the list of 20 I haven’t seen any further developments on what we have said earlier, there still hasnot been any indication from Pakistan that they are moving on that. But on the dismantling of terrorist camps,well we have received that indication through the discussions that we had when Deputy Secretary Armitage washere and also you have seen it in the public announcement made by Secretary of State Colin Powell at the AsiaSociety annual dinner in New York last week that Pakistan would take action to permanently quell and controland eliminate its capabilities for supporting terrorism which would mean the dismantling of the infrastructureof terrorism. If you are asking me "have you seen that happen on the ground as yet", I think it is tooearly to say that. We are obviously monitoring the situation, we are putting together our inputs, obviously wereceive that from various sources. At this point of time we are not in a position to give you an answer onthat in terms of saying whether we have a clear, concrete assessment on whether the infrastructure has indeedbeen dismantled.

Coming back to the interview on Dainik Jagran, is there any portion that you would say that Vajpayee hasnot been portrayed in the right light?

I would request you read the article itself and not go by the introduction. No, what are the issues? Youtell me where you feel there are doubts. I will able to clarify that because it depends, your reading may bedifferent from mine. Please let me know.

About the economic pressures? I quote " but in this economic pressures were also one of the pressuresbeing contemplated and Pakistan was not in a position to confront this and before such measures could beundertaken Pakistan did act on certain demands made and so it was not far necessary to … "

Well, I don’t believe that this is a verbatim of what the Prime Minister would have said but the issue ofpressures on Pakistan, the issue of controls, the kind of measures that may be called for, if Pakistan doesnot deliver on the demands made of it to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorists, I think the options arepretty much open still. Till now that (economic) issue had not really been sort of in a sense "kicked intooperation".

But the fact is that the scenario is still developing and you cannot foreclose the use of any such options.I think that was the sense of what was being said. Similarly here I think there is a reference that there isno need to be hasty about removing the troops from the border and there is no possibility of a dialoguebetween the two sides until terrorism is stopped and until infiltration is not stopped completely theconditions really do not obtain and there would be no need to take such steps until infiltration is stopped.

Prime Minister has referred to the fact that there is going to be elections in Jammu and Kashmir and alsoelections in Pakistan, that the world is looking at these two forthcoming events. He has implied that somecoordination at the army level may be required on the issue of joint patrolling. But again as far as dialoguebetween the two countries is concerned there can be a possibility of that only when there is end to crossborder terrorism.