- MUNICH, Germany (Reuters)
- India said on Saturday that its troops massed along the frontier with
arch-rival Pakistan would not stand down until there was clear evidence
that "terrorism from across its borders" had slowed.
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- "We sincerely hope that we will achieve our purpose
without use of unnecessary force," National Security Adviser Brajesh
Mishra told an international conference in Munich.
-
- "But it is important -- not only for our national
interest, but also for the global campaign against terrorism -- that we
should remain firm in our resolve until it produce the desired
objective."
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- The nuclear-capable neighbors, deeply divided over the
Himalayan territory of Kashmir, have ramped up troops levels along their
border since a militant attack on the Indian parliament in December.
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- New Delhi accuses Islamabad of sponsoring the rebellion
against Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir state. Islamabad says it provides
only moral and diplomatic support for a self-determination struggle in
the province.
-
- "India would like to see concrete evidence of a
diminution of terrorism from across its borders before it acts on military
de-escalation," Mishra said.
-
- Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said on Friday
that he wanted a meeting with Mishra on the sidelines of the annual global
security conference in the southern German city. There was no word on
Saturday
on whether the two would indeed meet.
-
- Mishra, who is also principal secretary to Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee, made links between the al Qaeda network, which the
United States blames for the September 11 attacks on New York and
Washington,
and terrorism against Indian interests.
-
- In a thinly veiled expression of New Delhi's frustration
with Washington's focus on al Qaeda and Afghanistan's Taliban, he said:
"We cannot condone terrorism somewhere while condemning it elsewhere
because this lenience will boomerang on all of us."
-
- He also suggested that al Qaeda and Taliban fighters
who were trapped in Kunduz during the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan
may have fled to Kashmir or Pakistan, although he did not specify those
destinations by name.
-
- "These are questions of long-term relevance to the
international campaign against terrorism," he said. "Anyone who
looks at a map of the region would understand why, for India, this is a
matter of immediate security concern."
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