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Jaswant to broach terrorism issue with Musharraf

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The External Affairs and Defence Minister Jaswant Singh will lead the attack against Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf during the Agra summit by broaching the issue of Islamabad's continuing usage of foreign mercenaries in Kashmir to foster terrorism, a top official of the ministry of external affairs said on Friday.

"We are reconciled to discussing Kashmir at the beginning of the summit and even towards the end. In between, we will pick up the other issues. The general (Musharraf) will be told by our external affairs and defence minister that India is the last nation (on earth) to bow down to any kind of blackmail from Pakistan, including nuclear," he asserted.

He said that Singh will remind the Pakistan president that while India will do everything to ensure peace and tranquillity between the two countries, it will be a fatal mistake to underestimate New Delhi's capacity to tackle the foreign mercenaries and terrorists operating in Kashmir under Islamabad's guidance.

"India's stand on Kashmir will be presented to General Musharraf with documents compiled during the course of the last 12 years so that we cannot be accused of talking in the air. We have taken care to ensure that our evidence against Pakistan-inspired cross-border terrorism is incontrovertible," the official pointed out.

According to the official, Singh will broach the issue of Pakistan's refrain that Kashmir is a nuclear flash point and that until the Kashmir issue is resolved, the world would remain in the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.

Contending that the Indian leadership is sick of such rhetoric, the official emphasised that the external affairs minister will tell General Musharraf that India has the right to resort to 'hot-pursuit' of the foreign mercenaries and militants (across the border) which it had so far refrained from using.

"The arguments of the Indian delegation during the summit is to clearly tell Musharraf that his country should forget the forcible possession of Kashmir," he pointed out.

He said that Union Home Minister Advani will be the next from the Indian delegation to tell the Pakistan president with documentary evidence how his country's Inter-Services Intelligence has spread its tentacles across India including the north east and the southern region.

"It will be made clear to the visiting (Pakistani) delegation at the Agra summit that the issue of Kashmir has various facets to it including the rights of minorities in Jammu and Ladakh," the official asserted.

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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