January 10, 2002
'5'
HOME MINISTER SHRI L.K. ADVANI'S STATEMENT AT A PRESS CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON DC
Following is the text of the Home Minister Shri L.K. Advani’s statement issued at a Press Conference in Washington DC (Local Time) on January 9, 2002:
"I have come to the United States on an official visit for three purposes: to express solidarity with the government and the people of the United States in their ongoing struggle against terrorism; to thank them for their understanding and support for India’s struggle against the same menace emanating from the same source; and to discuss, in the aftermath of September 11 and December 13, when terrorists mounted an attack on our Parliament, way of giving effect to our common resolve to defeat terrorism decisively and speedily.
I pay tribute to the patriotism and unity of the American people and the unflinching determination of their government in the face of the worst ever terrorist attack in history that they, and the entire horrified humanity, witnessed on September 11. The resolute war on terrorism in Afghanistan has already achieved significant successes. India fully supports this war because of our principled belief that freedom itself, and not the United States alone, was attacked on that day.
The strong leadership provided by President Bush in this ongoing war against international terrorism has been appreciated in India. We also acknowledge the American leadership’s appreciation of, and practical support to, India’s own struggle against the menace of terrorism India was gratified by the strong US condemnation of the terrorist attack on Indian Parliament, which we believe is as grave a challenge to India’s sovereignty just as the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and WTC Towers were to USA’s.
India and USA: Twin Towers of Democracy
I wish to emphasise that India and the United States have a unique role in the struggle against terrorism. We are both victims of terrorism. We are both actively fighting against it, albeit in our own ways with a steadily growing degree of cooperation.
The common threat that we face, and the coordinated struggle that we have had to wage against this common menace, have underscored the need for a strong and longer-term partnership between us, anchored in our shared values and driven by the congruency of our common interests.
After all, it is instructive to know why international terrorism has made India and the United States its principal targets. I think that this is because our two countries cherish and celebrate all that the terrorists abhor and consider impediments to the realization of their own strategic objective. We both believe in pluralism and secularism, which is rooted in respect for all faiths. We are both open societies, in which freedom of the press, judiciary and enterprise are constitutionally guaranteed.
Above all, we are both democracies – indeed, I would like to describe India and America as "the Twin Towers of Democracy". The terrorists may have destroyed the steel and concrete structures of the WTC, but they can never harm the structures and the spirit of our two democracies.
More and more parts of the world are embracing these universal values. Indeed, these values have come to be recognized as categorical imperatives for securing development and peace- both regional and global. The ideology of international terrorism, as propounded by Al Qaeda, Taliban and other terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Toyba and Jaish-e-Mohammed born in India’s neighborhood, is feeling threatened by the steady advancement of these values. Which is why, its attacks have become more audacious and diabolical in recent times. The happenings of September 11 and December 13 have demonstrated its willingness and ability to strike any vital installation in any country at any time.
I would like to recall here the prescient words of our Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had pointed out in his address to the US Congress in September 2000, that "distance offers no immunity against international terrorism". During his visit to the United States in November last, Shri Vajpayee also stated that the terrible tragedy of September 11 "has created the opportunity to fashion a determined global response to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, wherever it exists and under whatever name". December 13 increased the need and urgency for such a "determined global response" several fold.
Pakistan’s double standards in dealing with terrorism
I would like to take this opportunity to focus on Pakistan’s fundamental, deep and continuing role in sustaining international terrorism. As everyone knows, Taliban was created and propped up by Pakistan’s ruling establishment. It had done so principally to help Pakistan as a "force multiplier" in its proxy was against India, conducted through acts of terrorism not only in the Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir but also in other parts of our country. Over the past two decades, terrorism, sponsored and directed from across the border by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as a matter of that county’s state policy, has claimed nearly 60,000 of our innocent civilians and security personnel – in Punjab, in Jammu & Kashmir, and in other parts of India.
Therefore, Indians, as also many people around the world, were bemused when Pakistan effected a sudden U-turn in its policy towards Taliban and decided to join the US-led international coalition against terror in Afghanistan. We cannot understand how Pakistan can now claim to be opposed to terrorism on its west and continue to rationlise, justify and patronize it on its east. In a logic that flies in the face of every norm of civilized international behaviour, President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, again indicated at the SAARC summit in Kathmandu last week that the terrorist acts in Jammu & Kashmir – and by corollary, elsewhere in India – are a part of a legitimate "freedom struggle" in Kashmir, which his government would continue to support.
I would like our friends in USA and elsewhere in the world to ponder: "What type of freedom fighters are these who set off serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, hijack a civilian airliner and take it, unsurprisingly, to Taliban-controlled Kandahar, routinely conduct mass killings of innocent civilians, carry out a terrorist attack on the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly and strike at India’s Parliament, the heart of the world’s largest democracy?"
We fully agree with President Bush’s exhortation that "there cannot be good terrorists and bad terrorists". Obviously, President Musharraf seems to think otherwise. He would like the world to believe that there are "good terrorists" at work in furtherance of Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir.
Our resolve and our objective
December 13 has steeled India’s resolve to take our battle against Pak-sponsored cross-border terrorism to the finish, guided by the objective of bringing it to a decisive end. India lost her former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, to terrorism fomented in Punjab. It took us over a decade to overcome terrorism in Punjab. But vanquish it, we did. We are similarly determined to stamp out terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir and in the rest of India.
We hope that our diplomatic and political initiatives, coupled with the concerns expressed by the international community, will lead Pakistan to end its cross-border terrorism against India.
In this context, we highly appreciate what President Bush and his administration have done so far to make Pakistan begin to comprehensively abandon its policy on terrorism. However, Pakistan has so far neither shown any sincerity in wanting to end cross-border terrorism against India nor taken adequate, demonstrable and effective steps in that direction.
India has never been wanting in self-restraint. We have shown immense restraint during the prolonged proxy war waged by Pakistan, which we faced many grave provocations. India made several sincere and bold efforts in the past three years to seek peace with Pakistan. Each time, Pakistan responded with betrayal. As far as India is concerned, December 13 has been the gravest of provocations so far. Prime Minister Shri Vajpayee has spoken for on billion Indians when he said that it has "breached the limit of our endurance".
We shall not take another betrayal this time around. Pakistan must act – sincerely, decisively, demonstrably and speedily. The touchstone of Pakistan’s sincerity will be its positive response to the following legitimate demands put forth by India: