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| Congress weakening Indian position vis-a-vis Pakistan | | Merchants Of Death -- I | | Rustam
JAMMU, July 9: On July 4 and 5, Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani met in New Delhi and discussed ways and means aimed at harmonizing India-Pakistan relations. They discussed peace and security, Jammu & Kashmir, confidence building measures and Cross-LoC trade. As expected, Mathai demanded action against the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, which had left 166 innocent persons dead. Mathai told his counterpart that both Ajmal Kasab and Syed Jabi-ud-Din, alias Abu Jundal alias Abu Humza, had admitted the Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks. Kasab, along with other Pakistani terrorists, had actually executed the deadly attack. He was captured alive and is facing trial. Other terrorists were shot dead by the Indian security forces. As for Abu Jundal who was arrested two weeks ago from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, after he was deported by the Saudi Arabian Government much against the wishes of Pakistan, was the one who, along with six other Pakistanis, including an Army Major, a senior ISI official, Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhavi, had directed and monitors the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
What was the response of Jilani? He rejected all the Indian claims based on the revelations made by Kasab and Jundal and shamelessly said not a single state actor was involved in the terror attacks in India. On the contrary, he said that Pakistan had suffered more terrorist attacks and more deaths as compared to India. He also made it loud and clear that for Pakistan terrorism is only an "additional issue" and that for Islamabad the core issues are Jammu & Kashmir, Siachen glacier region, Sir Creek and the Indus Basin. There was no ambiguity in whatever he said on the Indian soil. Earlier, on July 3, he had taunted and humiliated India by holding meetings with Kashmiri fanatics, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik in the premises of High Commission for Pakistan.
The Pakistani response, which was not just negative but also provocative and insulting, should have made New Delhi to show Islamabad its rightful place, but it did not happen. What happened was to the contrary. It was decided that another meeting will be held in Islamabad on July 19 to carry forward the dialogue process. Pakistan scored once again a diplomatic victory over India. New Delhi again cut a sorry figure at the negotiating table. Mathai did not tell Jilani that while India had been a victim of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and that Pakistani had caused many Mumbai-like terrorist attacks in India, Pakistani terrorism is home grown. He also did not tell Jilani that Pakistan is using terrorism to accomplish its geo-political goals in the region and that terrorists like Saeed and elements in the Pakistani establishment, Army and the dread ISI were hand-in-glove with each other.
The fact is that the Indian Foreign Secretary, who is under the baneful influence of certain elements in the political establishment, failed to corner his counterpart. Remember, there are elements in the Indian political establishment who say day-in-day out that Pakistan, like India, is a victim of terror. Our Prime Minister, who has been described by the American magazine Time (Asian edition) as incompetent and under-achiever and the one who has no control over his Ministers, is one such person who says that Pakistan, like India, is also a victim of terrorism. This has only helped Pakistan and weakened the Indian resolve to fight Pakistani-sponsored terrorism.
Anyway, the two Foreign Secretaries not only agreed to continue the dialogue process, but the Indian Foreign Minister also indicated his desire to visit Pakistan in September so that he could meet with his Pakistani counterpart young and aggressive Hina Rabbani Khar. In fact, foreign Minister SM Krishna was scheduled to meet Khar on July 19 at Islamabad, but he had to reschedule his tour because of the impending presidential election in India, as also because of the prevailing political anarchy in Pakistan. However, he did meet her at Tokyo (Japan) yesterday for about 30 minutes on the sidelines of a conference on the restive and Taliban-infested Afghanistan. Krishna, as expected, discussed with her the issues of Mumbai and Sarabjit Singh, who has been languishing in a Lahore jail for more than 22 years now for no fault of his and said "normalization of relations can only be in an atmosphere free of terror". And, that's all. On her part, Khar assured India that new Pakistan Government is committed to former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's goal of bridging relations with India. Everyone knows Yousuf Raza Gilani's attitude towards the Indian demands was highly negative. (To be continued) |
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