- General Musharraf is back in combat mode. So, cross-border
terrorism becomes freedom struggle, the promise to close terrorist training
camps is just that, a promise, and Kashmir is back on the agenda.
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- In an interview to Newsweek, the general flatly denied
having committed himself permanently to ending infiltration across the
Line of Control. He also went back on his earlier claim that the Pakistani
nuclear weapon had deterred India, going on, in fact, to assert his country's
superiority even in conventional terms. Just what is India to make of these
chameleon-like changes?
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- There are two possibilities here.
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- Either the general is playing to his domestic gallery.
Or it is another of his by-now familiar U-turns. The first
cannot be ruled out given the increasing opposition to the general within
Pakistan. General Musharraf,s critics not only feel that he has sold out
on Kashmir, they also resent his inability to resist American pressure.
It is unlikely though that he would have made so bold as to deny a pledge
that has been publicly acknowledged by the entire American establishment.
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- If General Musharraf's statements were to be accepted
at face value, the US and UK would turn out to have been guilty of enormous
misjudgment. First, the assumption that the general was genuine in his
commitment to end terrorism. Second, their disproportionate reaction to
Pakistan's nuclear threat in the form of a panicky travel advisory to their
citizens.
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- It might be worthwhile to go back to the TV interview
US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage gave on his return from the
subcontinent. To a question whether the US had been blunt with the general
as regards terrorism, Mr Armitage replied, "I had a very straightforward
and frank discussion with president Musharraf, who is a man of great dignity
and honour, and very straightforward... We value the assurances that president
Musharraf gave to the US government, in effect to the president of the
United States. We think he will exert every effort to stop the infiltration."
-
- So much for Mr Armitage's "straightforward"
discussion with a "straightforward" man. The general has watered
down the promises conveyed through a third party on the basis of which
India has initiated a response. There is a strong case for India seeking
clarifications from Washington about its possible misunderstanding of what
the general conveyed.
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- The US has a major problem of establishing its credibility
at the highest level in the wake of this interview.
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