CROSS-BORDER TERRORISM WILL BE FIRMLY DEALT WITH- PM

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We will continue to deal firmly with cross border terrorism and a meaningful dialogue with Pakistan is only possible when we see sincerity in their efforts to stop cross-border infiltration and to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism. This was stated by the Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee while addressing the Combined Commanders Conference of the three Armed Forces in New Delhi today.

The Prime Minister said, that the Russian retreat from Afghanistan released thousands of armed mujahideens and jehadis, whom Pakistan could re-direct into Jammu and Kashmir. The present phase of cross-border terrorism began then, he said.

Referring to the recent measures announced to promote greater people-to-people interaction, cultural exchanges and economic cooperation with Pakistan the Prime Minister said that our constant effort is to encourage those elements in Pakistan, who recognise the folly of permanent hostility towards India. The Prime Minister added that by our recent measures, we have also silenced the whispering campaign that the requirements of forthcoming elections dictate a harsh Pakistan Policy. The political leadership of this country is well aware that the constituency for peace with Pakistan is much larger than that which favours hostility.

The Prime Minister went on to add that the Iraq war opened up new post-Cold War divisions, with heated debates on the meaning and viability of a cooperative multi-polar world order. We saw the inability of the United Nations structures to deal with current world realities, he said. A new acrimony developed among members of the P-5 and we need to understand the true significance of these events and to draw from them the right political and strategic lessons for our long-term security, he said.

The recent national discussions on events in Iraq showed that many in our country are still caught up in the time warp of a Cold War mindset and strategic assumptions of an earlier era, Shri Vajpayee said.

The end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union gave a strong jolt to many of India's strategic and security assumptions of nearly five decades. The changed circumstances of the Indo-Soviet strategic alliance greatly affected India's room for diplomatic manoeuvre in the world, the Prime Minister said.

Mr. Vajpayee further added that the quality of many of our other relationships and alliances also suffered from the realignment of world forces and the collapse of the USSR badly disrupted our defence cooperation with that country.

The Prime Minister went on to say that the combination of diplomatic repositioning, economic resurgence and military firmness has given India a new importance in the international league. We have re-established our cordiality with USA, while strengthening our strategic partnership with Russia. He said that we have established Summit-level dialogues with the European Union and ASEAN. We have strategic dialogues, counter-terrorism linkages and other political and security interaction mechanisms with a large number of European and Asian countries. We have almost lost count of the number of countries that today publicly support India's candidature to the permanent membership of the UN Security Council, the Prime Minister said.

We have played an important role in the G-20 efforts at Cancun. We have had discussions on India-Russia-China trilateral cooperation, and - on an entirely different plane - an India-Brazil-South Africa dialogue. We are developing other regional and sub-regional linkages in Asia, Latin America and Africa, he said.

Mr. Vajpayee said that the magnitude of these developments is not fully grasped, as our foreign policy debates show. Too many of us are caught up in limiting ideologies and a limited vision of what India is doing and where it should be going, he said.

The Prime Minister also said that India exploited the fluidities in the emerging World Order to forge new links with democratic societies on the basis of shared values, common objectives, convergent worldview and more recently, a coalition against terrorism. We have experienced an economic resurgence by developing and using skills in the knowledge-based technologies, and by pragmatically accepting the consequences of globalization. The opening up of our billion-strong market to imports and investment has put India prominently in the global economic mainstream. He added that the Pokharan nuclear tests and our ambitious missile development programme showed our determination to respond decisively to our security environment, inspite of all external pressures.

Referring to China, Shri Vajpayee said that our border with China has remained largely peaceful for the last few decades. During his recent visit to China, both the countries have agreed to raise their bilateral and other economic cooperation to a qualitatively higher level, he said. The decision of the two Governments to appoint Special Representatives to discuss the boundary question from a political perspective was a particularly significant measure. A final resolution of the boundary question would release considerable military energies and finances for other more purposeful activities. It is therefore a strategic objective and to achieve it, we should be willing to take some pragmatic decisions, Shri Vajpayee said.

The Prime Minister said that in the larger picture of our regional interests, including energy security, Afghanistan and Central Asia are of great importance to us. We cannot accept Pakistan's implied claim to Afghanistan as an expansion of its strategic space, he said. We will firmly withstand the crude threats that are being made against our Consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad. Our economic assistance and other cooperation initiatives with Afghanistan will continue and we will similarly expand our cooperation in all areas with Central Asian Countries, Shri Vajpayee said.

In the globalized world of today, every strategy is inter-disciplinary. It is, therefore, imperative to develop a close synergy between our security agencies, our armed forces, our diplomats and our Finance, Commerce, Energy and other Ministries. In the 21st century, war in whatever form can be won only through multiple levers of power, the Prime Minister said.

Shri Vajpayee cautioned that the use of neighbouring countries by various insurgent groups has helped to prolong insurgency in our North-eastern states, retarding their development. Deliberate efforts to inhibit access to these states also create hurdles to rapid economic growth. The Prime Minister suggested a two pronged strategy to counter this, firstly to use various means of persuasion with our neighbouring countries to choke off support to the terrorist groups and secondly to focus strongly on economic development and improved connectivity of the North East.

Shri Vajpayee said that the activities of Maoist groups in Nepal cause us considerable concern especially because of their links with ultra leftist groups in India. Again, we need to devise innovative security measures to curb the mobility of Maoists and other insurgent groups across the India-Nepal border without inhibiting the people-to-people and commercial traffic between the two countries, the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister also said that in the recent past, he has been stressing the need to develop technologies to counter actions of terrorists and insurgent groups. This would also have to include WMD terrorism and cyber terrorism emanating from non-state actors, he said. Given India's continuous exposure to the proxy war from across our borders, it is important that we evolve a comprehensive counter-terrorism doctrine backed by suitable capabilities of manpower and high technology equipment, Shri Vajpayee said.

The Prime Minister further emphasized that as we grow in international stature, our defence strategies should naturally reflect our political, economic and security concerns, extending well beyond the geographical confines of South Asia. Our security environment ranges from the Persian Gulf to the Straits of Malacca across the Indian Ocean, including Central Asia and Afghanistan in the North-west, China in the North-east and South East Asia. Our strategic thinking has also to extend to these horizons, Shri Vajpayee said.

Shri Vajpayee suggested that our defence strategists have to work closely with defence research and development establishment to ensure a smooth two-way interflow between technology and strategy. Since both technologies and strategies mutually transform each other, it is essential that the users of the technology - the field units - should also be in the loop. Streamlining may be required in this area, Shri Vajpayee said.

Lastly Shri Vajpayee concluded his address saying that in today's competitive world, it would be inefficient for our defence R&D establishments and equipment manufacturers not to make use of the talents and skills available in the private sector. This again is an area on which our defence establishments should focus more intensively.

In his address the Deputy Prime Minister Shri L K Advani said that although the world view on terrorism has changed after the September 9 episode it has not prevented our adversaries from continuing to do what they are doing. He felt that India has not made Pakistan to pay the price which could deter them from taking up such mis-adventures again.

The Defence Minister Shri George Fernandes in his address emphasized the need for continuance of war against cross-border terrorism. He said the prevailing strategic environment in our neighbourhood compels us to be ever vigilant. Touching upon the relationship with China, the Defence Minister said it is more stable at present but we can’t ignore the fact that China and India are the natural competitors in political and economic spheres.

Referring to the Iraq war he defended the stand taken by India and said that India is cognizant of the current plight of the people of Iraq and at the appropriate time we shall discharge whatever responsibility devolves upon us. The Defence Minister was of the view that in this endeavour, the military will have a very important role to play.

With reference to the 1998 nuclear tests, the Defence Minister said that India is committed to acquiring a credible minimum deterrent posture and the creation of the Strategic Forces Command is part of this effort. Shri Fernandes said that while India is committed to a ‘no-first use policy’, the prevailing regional ambience compels us to be always vigilant.

Stressing the need for the modernization and acquisition programme of the Armed Forces, the Defence Minister said that government has approved procurement of force multipliers, comprehensive upgrade of various aircraft and helicopters besides clearing the proposal to procure AJTs in the recent past.

Referring to the various welfare measures for the Armed forces initiated recently such as Married Accommodation Project and Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme, the Defence Minister asked the commanders to take personal interest in the speedy implementation of these schemes.

Addressing the Commanders, the Finance Minister Shri Jaswant Singh said that he is prepared to sit with his counterpart in Defence Ministry and sort out proposals to expedite their implementation. The Finance Minister further added that the precondition of security is a vibrant and sustained economy. The Indian economy is stable and doing fine moreover the Global Economy is not as bad as it was last year. The US economy has registered a growth of 7.2 per cent of its GDP in the last quarter and its beneficial effects must accrue to the rest of the world.