NEW DELHI, 5 November 2003 — Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani yesterday accused Pakistan of supporting the insurgency in Kashmir because it could not bear India’s emergence as a major economic power and its success as a democracy.
“Pakistan could not see that democracy has succeeded in India to this extent. Further, it is worried about the emergence of India as an economic heavyweight,” Advani told a national conference of police chiefs.
He said the possibility of India emerging as the third largest economy in the world by the year 2030 has “sent alarm bells ringing in Pakistan”.
Blaming “vested interests” in Pakistan for the poor relations between New Delhi and Islamabad, Advani said they “do not want tension between India and Pakistan to reduce and want the war clouds to remain. That is why the situation in the region is not improving”.
But he did not specify whom he meant by vested interests.
The deputy premier said India has repeatedly been extending the hand of friendship to Pakistan but every time Islamabad adopted a negative posture stalling the peace process.
He said India has been insisting that “cross-border terrorism” must end before any serious dialogue was initiated between the two South Asian rivals because talks cannot succeed unless the killing of innocent people stopped.
Islamabad could provide proof that it was serious about fighting terrorism by handing over some 20 Indian terrorists and gangsters who had taken refuge in Pakistan, the deputy premier said.
“Our repeated assertion that forces supportive of terrorism are receiving assistance and sanctuaries in Pakistan is receiving corroboration,” Advani said.
Advani said the Indian government was open to resolution of all conflicts, including Kashmir through dialogue and peaceful means.
Advani also said the rape of a Swiss diplomat in New Delhi had tarnished the image of the police and urged them to be more effective in tackling crime.
Advani, who is also home minister, said that the police had done a good job in fighting terrorism, but had to do better on “conventional” crime.
He said the rape of the 36-year-old Swiss diplomat in New Delhi last month had done irreparable damage to the public perception of the police at home and abroad.
“This will haunt the image of police for a long time and this talk will not remain confined only to India but will be discussed the world over,” he said.
The Swiss woman was attacked as she got into her car after watching a film.
She was driven around in her hijacked car for 30 minutes during which one of her two attackers raped her and lectured her on Indian traditional values.
The woman, who was also robbed of a diamond ring, returned to Switzerland a day after the assault.
Pressure on the police to crack the case has been immense particularly as the Swiss president is due to visit India.
With more than 340 rapes so far this year the Indian capital of 14 million people has one of the highest rates of crime against women in India.
The Hindi news channel Aaj Tak yesterday said a survey had shown more than 70 percent of women in New Delhi felt unsafe.
“Our security forces have done a commendable job... but what I want is an effective policing in tackling conventional crime,” Advani said, adding the police had to win the confidence of the general public.
“What is more important is what perception people have about the police... it may be not good as people are still scared in reporting any incidents at the police station,” said Advani.
“Unfortunately, the public image of policemen ... has not materially changed in the last five decades.”
Maoists Blow Up State-Owned Guest Bungalow in Andhra Pradesh
Maoist insurgents have blown up a state-owned forest guest house that hosted visiting officials to the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, a police spokesman said yesterday.
There was no one staying at the Chintala guest house in the coastal Prakasham district, 300 kilometers (186 miles) southeast of the state capital Hyderabad, when it was attacked Monday night using powerful remote-controlled bombs, police said.
Police blamed the People’s War Group (PWG), which claims to fight on behalf of the rural poor.
“Forest guards and counterinsurgency police have cordoned off the Chintala forest reserve to try and catch the rebels from the People’s War Group who detonated the bombs,” said a police spokesman.
