NEW DELHI, 8 July 2005 — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said public support for peace with Pakistan could wither if there were more attacks like this week’s raid on a disputed religious site in Ayodhya.
Hindu activists blocked roads and closed shops in dozens of cities on Wednesday, a day after unidentified gunmen stormed the site, claimed by both Hindus and minority Muslims.
All six attackers were killed.
“I have always maintained that we need to carry public opinion to make a success of the peace process,” The Hindu newspaper quoted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as saying in remarks published yesterday.
“Anything that comes in the way of public opinion, and certainly these incidents, if they get repeated, have the potential to disrupt the peace process,” Manmohan Singh was quoted as telling reporters traveling with him on his way to the G-8 summit in Scotland.
Islamabad said it had already condemned the Ayodhya attack and reiterated its commitment to the peace process.
“We are a front-line state against terrorism and are fully committed to the peace process,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Naeem Khan said responding to Manmohan Singh’s comments.
“The peace process is irreversible. Such incidents should not be allowed to disrupt the peace process,” he said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the Ayodhya raid but security officials and Hindu hard-liners say that it was the work of Muslim militant groups based in Pakistan, going by the nature of the attack in which the gunmen stormed the holy complex with an explosives-laden vehicle.
The raid sparked fears of a fresh communal strife between Hindus and Muslims who have been rowing over its ownership.
The nuclear rivals, who launched peace talks last year, have blamed each other in the past for militancy and attacks in their own countries.
But since the peace talks began last year, there has been a general understanding between the two sides that they should not allow rebel attacks to derail the dialogue, analysts say.
“India needs to take another look at its policy of dealing with Pakistan,” India’s Hindustan Times newspaper said in an editorial yesterday. It said it was increasingly become apparent that either Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was not in control of the situation or was playing a “double game”. If it was the latter, New Delhi needed to readjust its strategy, it said.
“The larger policy of befriending Pakistan and neutralizing the jehadis must, however, remain our grand strategy,” the daily said referring to Muslim militants.
Manmohan Singh said both nations had committed themselves to preserving the peace process, which has made slow progress with no sign of a settlement on the main dispute over Kashmir.
“In our joint statement, I and President Musharraf have committed ourselves to making the peace process irreversible,” he said, referring to talks he held with Musharraf in April. “I sincerely hope that we can stick to that solemn commitment, both of us.”
Manmohan Singh did not point fingers when asked who could be behind the latest attack. But he said: “There is no doubt that the infrastructure of terror is, by and large, intact.”
Pakistan denies it gives any material support to the militants fighting in Kashmir or elsewhere in India.
Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the government had “some information” about the identity of the attackers.
“We have some information, but we would like to give this information only after getting all the information, as it is more important to pin them down,” he told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. Patil urged political parties not to make statements about the attack that could stoke communal unrest.
