ON BOARD AIR INDIA ONE: A day before he meets Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in New York, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he would will ask Zardari to address the issue of cross-border terror, but underlined that both countries could covert this “common challenge” into an opportunity to jointly combat terrorism.
“There are enormous challenges ahead for both India and Pakistan. We are to see how peace can be brought and how we can work together,” Singh told reporters aboard his special aircraft on his way to New York.
“India-Pakistan relations are about challenges. We face common challenges and we will seek to convert them into opportunities,” the prime minister said when asked about his agenda for talks with Zardari.
Singh was scheduled to meet Zardari at the United Nations headquarters in New York yesterday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly — the first meeting between them since Zardari became the president early this month. This will also be their first meeting since the serial blasts in Delhi and the attack on Marriot Hotel in the heart of Islamabad last week.
“That is among the challenges we have to meet,” the prime minister said when asked whether he will take up the issue of continuing cross-border terrorism with Zardari. Lauding the “advent of democracy in Pakistan”, the prime minister set a positive tone for the talks, saying: “We are looking forward to working together.”
India concedes that Pakistan, too, is a victim of terrorism but feels strongly that it did not detract from its alleged complicity in terror attacks in India. This is the no— nonsense message on crossborder terrorism Singh will convey to Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who was killed in a suicide attack last year.
Besides cross-border terrorism, increasing Line of Control (LoC) cease-fire violations, infiltration and the July 7 bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul will figure prominently in Singh’s talks with Zardari. The two leaders are also likely to announce the start of cross-border trade through Jammu and Kashmir, expected to begin Oct. 1.
Singh will remind Zardari of Pakistan’s Jan. 6, 2004, commitment not to allow its territory to be used for anti-India terror and take up the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul for which New Delhi has blamed Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), an official source said.
The prime minister will also ask Zaradri to use his influence to stem the flow of cross-border terror which New Delhi feels is being masterminded by the ISI, the source added.
Singh also said the government has left it to the Election Commission of India to decide the dates for elections in troubled Jammu and Kashmir. “It’s for the Election Commission to decide,” Singh said. “Is there any right time to hold elections?” he said in a light-hearted tone when asked whether the time was right for holding the elections in the state, presently under Governor’s rule after the state assembly was dissolved July 11.
The elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly are due in November. A land row leading to prolonged protests in the state and a revival of separatist feeling among some sections in the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley had sparked off speculations about the indefinite delay in holding the polls.
The land row also led to a political crisis in the state after Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned following withdrawal of support by coalition partner Peoples Democratic Party.
Singh said his government had not “reached any conclusion” on a new anti-terror law to counter rising terrorism in the country and had asked a group of officials to study a report on the issue.
“I have not reached any conclusion yet. I have asked a group of officials to study the report of the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC),” the prime minister told reporters when asked whether his government was considering a new law to counter terrorism in India.
He was referring to last week’s report of the ARC headed by Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily that recommended a more stringent anti-terror law to deal with the recent spate of terror attacks in Indian cities.
