Saturday, March 29, 2003
US advice to resume dialogue with Pak 'gratuitous': Sinha
Press Trust of India New Delhi, March 29
Regretting the US advice to India to resume dialogue with Pakistan after the killing of 24 Kashmir pandits, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Saturday said it was "as gratuitous and misplaced" as New Delhi asking them to open dialogue with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
In an interview to BBC World, Sinha also said no international war on terror can succeed unless the western alliance helps put an end to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir.
He said "advice to India about resuming dialogue with Pakistan in the aftermath of the killings of Hindus in Kashmir this week was just as gratuitous and misplaced as we asking them to open a dialogue with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein".
He, however, welcomed the joint statement issued by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell and the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Thursday asking Pakistan to take steps to effectively check cross border infiltration.
"This statement is more reflective of the situation on the ground and takes into account India's long standing concerns," he said.
Sinha said "there are times when the international community takes into account India's concerns and puts pressure on Pakistan. For sometime it has the desired effect. But as soon as the international attention wavers from this region, Pakistan starts again," he said.
Sinha said at the end of the day it is India's war against terror and Delhi realises it will have to fight it alone.
When asked about reports in a section of the press -- attributed to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee -- that India has refused help to the US in the ongoing war against Iraq, he said "no help was asked and none was offered".
On efforts to bring peace to West Asia, he said Delhi was still hopeful and in touch with other countries opposed to this war.
"There is a lot of behind the scene activity going on in New York and we are trying our best. I can't divulge more details right now," he said.
The minister also defended the government's stand on Iraq saying India was unequivocally opposed to the war.
"What we have done is not use harsh language in our resolution on the war. But where is the need for that if our stand is communicated effectively even in a polite manner," he said.
"There is nothing wrong in being pragmatic," he said when asked whether India was trying a balancing act between the Arab world and the US. "We are neither pro-US nor pro-Iraq," he said stressing "Our policy should be pro-India".
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