Govt ready for talks with
militant bodies
White Paper soon on ISI activities: Advani

NEW DELHI, Dec 15 (PTI, UNI) — The government is not averse to holding talks with militant organisations in Jammu and Kashmir but ruled out parleys with secessionist elements, Home Minister L.K. Advani said in the Lok Sabha today.

Replying to a special discussion on national security and rise of militancy in various parts, Mr Advani made it clear that talks with militant outfits could be held “only within the framework of the Constitution.’’

He said the government would consider whether it would be worthwhile to hold negotiations with them “at this juncture’’ when they were losing local support.

The Home Minister said the government would soon come out with a ‘White Paper’ on Pakistan’s ISI-sponsored activities in J and K and other parts of the country and adopt a two-pronged strategy to effectively combat terrorism.

He said the USA had for the first time acknowledged Pakistan-backed cross-border terrorism in J and K after the Kargil conflict and regretted that Washington had earlier declined to recognise it.

On the efforts being made by New Delhi to get Pakistan declared a ‘terrorist state’, he said while international opinion in this regard would be of help, there would be no let-up in operations by security forces to combat militancy.

The USA and other key countries must realise that Pakistan-sponsored terrorism was not only affecting India but was of concern to them too, he said.

Mr Advani said it was not possible to hold talks with ULFA and other outfits in Assam as these were not prepared to have parleys within the framework of the Constitution.

The government, he said, had convened a meeting of Chief Ministers and Governors of the seven North-Eastern states and Sikkim here on January 20 and 21 to discuss concerns of security and economic development.

Mr Advani also said the details about the ISI activities were being collected for publication of the proposed White Paper as demanded by many Members of Parliament. These activities were confined to some states some years ago. Recently, West Bengal Home Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee met him and expressed concern over the increasing activities of ISI in the state, Mr Advani said.

Mr Advani said 45 gangs of the ISI had been smashed and 116 arrested. In the operation against the ISI, eight persons were killed, he added.

After the defeat in 1971 war, Pakistan under Zia realised that it was difficult to combat India in a war. Therefore, there must be a proxy war. The plan regarding this was finalised and executed from the eighties. The ISI had been engaged in this game plan, he added.

Giving statistics, he said more people were visiting Jammu and Kashmir for the past few years. This might be treated as the barometer for the improvement of the situation there. The militants being captured and killed in encounters in the state were foreigners from Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries. This was one of the reasons why Indian Security people suffered casualties in the state. Pakistan sent well-trained mercenaries and not security forces to the state, he added.

It was with the help and cooperation of the local people, the police and the state governments, terrorism and insurgency could be tackled by the union government by providing central forces. The central forces alone would not be able to tackle terrorism, he added.

The minister said the government had accepted the demand for establishing an Army cantonment in Doda district but progress on this front had been delayed because of the Kargil conflict. He would pursue it, Mr Advani assured members.

He disagreed with Congress member Rajesh Pilot that infiltration from across the border had gone up this year as compared to previous years.

He said Pakistan was sending mercenaries from its own soil, Afghanistan and other countries to J and K following decline of local support to militants.

He announced the government’s decision to increase the number of village defence committees in the state from 12,885 to 18,000 and said expenditure in this regard would be reimbursed by the Centre.

Maintaining that the government had taken serious note of the recent attempt on the life of Nagaland Chief Minister S.C. Jamir, he said the security forces had been asked to strictly deal with violations of ground rules of cease-fire with Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) reached two years ago.

India, he said, was in touch with Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh to stem the activities of various underground elements operating in the North-East.

In J and K in the past 10 years, he said 7,960 civilians had been killed while 10,727 militants had been gunned down by the security forces which had lost 2,039 personnel.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Manmohan Singh today expressed serious concern in the Rajya Sabha over reports that a letter from Pakistani military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf had reached Hurriyat conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Jodhpur jail and demanded probe into the matter.

Raising the matter in the Upper House during the zero hour, he wondered how a letter from General Musharraf could reach the Hurriyat leader lodged in jail and said it was a serious lapse on part of the authorities in Jodhpur.

Jaswant sets terms for talks with Pak

DUBAI, Dec 15 (UNI) — External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh has virtually ruled out the possibility of India holding any meaningful dialogue with Pakistan on outstanding issues as long as Islamabad continued to encourage fundamentalism and cross-border terrorism on Indian soil.

“We have been experiencing cross-border terrorism that is encouraged by our neighbours and also by their agents,” he charged in an interview to “Turkish Daily News”, an Ankara-based newspaper.

Asked to comment on Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf’s recent statement in which he spoke about the possibility of talks between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir question, Mr Jaswant Singh said “I haven’t seen the text of it yet I have only heard (about) it through newspapers.”

However, he hastened to add that it was now well recognised that India was the initiator of all efforts at peaceful resolution of all issues. “We have initiated a peaceful resolution and are ready to do that. But that purpose cannot be followed by the armed aggression of Pakistan. Also, how are we to engage in meaningful discussion if Pakistan continues to encourage fundamentalism and cross-border terrorism,” he asked.

Mr Jaswant Singh once again made it clear that there was no room for any third party mediation in bilateral disputes between India and Pakistan.

Speaking at length on Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said the Kashmir question was a matter of Indian nationhood. “We do not believe or accept the definitions of nationhood on the basis of subscription to faith. Simply because there is a preponderance of those who subscribe to the faith of Islam in the valley of Kashmir is not a sufficient reason for us that the denomination of nationalism somehow supersedes civic nationalism. It is also now sufficiently recognised that India has the second largest Muslim population in the world, following Indonesia.We have many more Muslims living in India than in Pakistan,” he added.

Mr Jaswant Singh said a large part of Jammu and Kashmir was under the forceful occupation of Pakistan. In addition, a large portion was occupied by China. Pakistan had also ceded some of the occupied territory to China.

On the nuclear issue, he asserted India’s nuclear programme was peaceful and neither directed against any country nor had any specific aim. “We do not formulate our policies according to Pakistan and Pakistan’s policies are, as it is known, Indo-centric”.

Regarding New Delhi’s ties with Washington, he said even though the USA was India’s biggest trading partner the full potential of economic relations between the two countries had not been realised. “Politically, I believe that the USA has begun to attempt much more purposefully to harmonise its global views with those of India, and in this regard, therefore, we are definitely moving into a period of much more balanced, equal and mutually appreciated relationship”.