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Bush acknowledges India's concerns on terrorism

Aziz Haniffa in Washington

If India had any concerns that the Bush Administration's all encompassing embrace of Pakistan in its campaign to go after Osama bin Laden, his Al Qaida network and their Taleban hosts in Afghanistan, was at the expense of Washington's burgeoning relations with New Delhi, President Bush himself put those fears to rest on Monday by dropping in on Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh's meeting with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice at the White House.

In what is perhaps fast becoming a habit, and yet another major boost to Singh's ego, Bush not only dropped in on the Singh-Rice meeting, but shared 40 minutes of the 75-minute discussion, appreciating India's spontaneous offer of support immediately following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington September 11, recalling his telephone conversation with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and noting that India was an integral part of the US-led anti-terrorism coalition.

In March, when Singh met with Rice, Bush not only dropped in on the meeting but also invited Singh to the Oval Office and engaged in conversation for over 40 minutes and then took him on a tour of the Rose Garden.

This time around, obviously mindful of India's angst over the Administration's volte-face vis-a-vis Pakistan with regard to recruiting Islamabad as a front-line state to fight the Taleban, senior Administration sources said Bush had reiterated during the conversation, as had Rice, that the US-led campaign was essentially global, apparently indicating that Washington was sensitive to New Delhi's continuing experience with terrorism.

Diplomatic observers acknowledged that the decision by Bush to drop in and spend as much time as he did was also perhaps because of a tough letter Singh had delivered to the president from Vajpayee, which spoke of India's outrage over the latest terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir, for which a Pakistan-based terrorist group -- the Jaish e-Muhammad -- had claimed responsibility.

In his missive to Bush, Vajpayee had blamed Pakistan in the strongest terms for the latest massacre at the Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly, and while referring to 'an understandable anger in the country at this wanton act of violence', had warned that 'Pakistan must understand there is a limit to the patience of the people of India'.

Evidently, Vajpayee wanted to get the message across to Bush that Washington was aligning itself with a military regime in Pakistan, which was very much a part of the problem and never been a part of the solution, particularly where exporting terrorism to India was concerned.

Singh, in a brief interaction with reporters after his meeting at the White House, described the talks as 'very cordial, productive and candid', and said, "it reviewed the totality of the situation."

Saying that the 'President was kind enough to share his thoughts', Singh said, "there was agreement that the fight against terrorism cannot be uni-dimensional or uni-directional."

He indicated that he had made the point that while the US was focused on bin Laden and the Al Qaida, it had spawned a number of different terrorists with different identities that were harboured by the Taleban, and that India, which 'has been severely tested because it has acted with restraint', had once again on Monday been subjected to a 'deliberate act, timed to send a message of defiance'.

Conveying the impression that the US was understanding India's concerns, even as it was focused on going after the alleged perpetrators and conspirators of the September 11 attacks, Singh said, Bush himself had admitted that the fight against terrorism is not 'uni-dimensional'.

But at the same time, Singh hinted that India would have to deal with terrorism by itself and that the US campaign, while sensitive to India's concerns, had a fixed agenda in going after those who it believed were responsible for the September carnage.

"The responsibility for dealing with terrorism in India rests with India itself," Singh said.

"We will have to do it. We've been fighting it for the last several years," he added.

Meanwhile, in terms of long-term goals and objectives for Afghanistan, Singh said, "India was in favour of a process to be set in motion, which will throw up a leadership without causing de-stabilisation."

However, he strongly argued that the Taleban had no place in this process, since 'they have turned over the country to Al Qaida and to terrorism'.

EARLIER REPORT:
Terrorism in India also to be tackled: US

The Attack on America: The Complete Coverage

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