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| WAR ON TERROR | | India keeps all options open | |
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI: In what may add gist to speculation about India mounting a military offensive against Pakistan, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee has
again warned that New Delhi will consider all options to protect its interest and people if Islamabad fails to keep its promises.
Addressing a seminar on South Asia at Gangtok in Sikkim on Friday, Mukherjee, who has been repeatedly suggesting that India's patience is running out, said that it was time now to fine-tune India's priorities "in the face of the gravest of provocations''.
Mukherjee was scathing in his comments about Pakistan as he emphasized the extent to which terrorists have spread their network as manifested by the Mumbai attacks. "The repeated appeals that we have made to our neighbours over the years to ensure that they do not provide any support to terrorist activities and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure have been ignored, despite assurances given by them. If a country cannot keep the assurances that it has given, then it obliges us to consider the entire range of options that exist, to protect our interests and our people from this menace,'' he said, adding that the internal security situation in Pakistan continued to deteriorate.
While Mukherjee used the term `non-state actors', first used by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to describe the Mumbai perpetrators, as he described the situation in Pakistan, he added that these were being aided by state agencies. "The Mumbai terrorist attack is the latest instance of how sub-regionalism, regionalism and multilateralism are directly threatened by non-state actors with the aid of para-state apparatus,'' stated Mukherjee, who had earlier said that the Mumbai attacks had brought about a pause in the Indo-Pak peace process.
Mukherjee's statements came soon after PML(N) leader Nawaz Sharif admitted that the lone terrorist survivor in Mumbai was a Pakistani. Sharif blamed his government for shielding terrorists.
Mukherjee's latest tirade found echo in Chennai on Saturday when strategic affairs analyst and South Asia expert Stephen P Cohen said that the Mumbai attacks had brought into focus Pakistan's role in aiding terrorists.
The tough-talking foreign minister, who has been blamed by the Pakistani media for exacerbating the tension between the two countries with his comments, went on to state that logistical support for anti-India terrorists in Pakistan has gone unchallenged. He also blamed multiple power centres in Pakistan for cross-border infiltration and spurt in ceasefire violations.
"Power has fragmented landing in many hands, leading to the emergence of multiple centres of power. This has been reflected in attempts at cross-border infiltration as also in the increase in ceasefire violations, recently climaxed by the appalling terrorist attack in Mumbai,'' he said.
"It is also true that the issue of terrorism within Pakistan is deeply embroiled in the internal politics of that country. The infrastructure of terror remains unchallenged in Pakistan as does logistical support to anti-Indian terrorists, from the multiple hands,'' he added.
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