The Hindu : 'Musharraf statements on Akshardham unacceptable'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 01, 2002

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'Musharraf statements on Akshardham unacceptable'

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 30. India today said it "could not accept" the recent statements by the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, placing the Akshardham attack in the context of the killings of Muslims earlier this year in Gujarat.

Asked to comment on the recent statements made by the Gen. Musharraf, the Foreign Office spokesperson, Nirupama Rao, said Islamabad should set its house in order rather than commenting on matters that did not concern it.

"What happened in Gujarat (the Akshardham attack) was an unadulterated act of terrorism," she said, adding that you could not have "good and bad terrorists". In response to other questions relating to internal affairs in Pakistan, she maintained that the concept of "sustainable democracy" being promoted by Pakistan's military ruler was not recognised by other countries.

Pakistan, she said, tried to project itself as the "gold standard" while commenting on the "fully free and fair" elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Separately, official sources, when asked about a $300 million payment to Pakistan by the U.S., said in the past New Delhi had seen Islamabad using economic assistance to intensify conflict in the region and support a military build-up.

In another development, the third round of the India-China "security dialogue", which took place in Beijing yesterday, discussed the international security situation, including the campaign against terrorism. There was also an "introduction" of each other's national defence policies and a review of the international disarmament agenda, an official statement said.

Issues relating to regional security cooperation, the situation in the neighbourhood, relations with ASEAN and the situation in the Korean peninsula came up for discussion as well.

"The first round of (the) bilateral security dialogue was held in Beijing in March 2000 and the second round in New Delhi in February 2001. The third round is part of the ongoing process, which was established during discussions with our then External Affairs Minister and the Chinese Foreign Minister in June 1999.

"The security dialogue between India and China is intended to facilitate better mutual perceptions of security and concerns (bilateral, regional and international) of the two sides, to expand commonalities in their approach to security issues and to address and resolve differences where possible. Both sides adopted a forward-looking approach to the dialogue,'' the statement added.

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