The Hindu : National : Improved ties have not reduced militant activity, says Pranab

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 15, 2005

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Improved ties have not reduced militant activity, says Pranab

Staff Correspondent

`Infiltration attempts still occurring, militants being trained across border'

CHANDIGARH: The Union Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, said here on Thursday that much needed to be done between India and Pakistan in the area of terrorism as the militant infrastructure in Pakistan was still intact despite the recent thaw in bilateral ties.

Delivering the V.N. Tewari Memorial Oration on `Peace Perspectives on South And South-East Asia: Prospects and Challenge' at the Punjab University here, he said that infiltration attempts still occurred and the militants received special training across the border.

Though infiltration had decreased over the last four months, due to patrolling by the Indian forces, militants were still present at "launching pads" waiting for an opportunity to sneak in.

Despite this, as a confidence building measure, India ordered the withdrawal of troops from Jammu and Kashmir in mid-November last year, he said.

The launch of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service despite violent attempts to sabotage it, illustrated that "peace is the only way."

Foreign relations

Emphasising that India's foreign and defence policies were characterised by pragmatism and cautious idealism, he said it had made commendable progress in improving its relations with major world powers. Relations with the United States were moving towards greater cooperation on strategic and security issues. Economic relations with China were now on a much larger scale than ever before.

The European Union countries had positively oriented their policies towards India and defence relations with Russia retained their strategic character and efforts were on to reinvigorate the economic relationship.

He said India's relations with the South Asian and South East Asian countries merited special attention, as the developments in these regions would have a significant impact on its emergence as a regional power and eventually a player on the world stage.

"India cannot fulfil its aspirations for a larger international profile without addressing the challenges in its neighbourhood. If tensions continue to persist in India's relations with its neighbours, these will act as a dampening factor. There is no alternative available to Indian diplomacy other than a substantive and patient engagement of its neighbours."

Mr. Mukherjee said that India needed to practice comprehensive security — many traditional non-military challenges — and convert these into opportunities.

However, with deep divisions and security problems within the Indian sub-continent, collective security did not seem to be attainable in the foreseeable future.

Economic progress

India's rapid economic development could be sustained only if it continued to promote economic integration and political stability in the region.

While stating that Sri Lanka had shown a forward-looking vision for economic cooperation, he said that Bangladesh seemed reluctant and Pakistan was holding back on beneficial economic regionalism, citing settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue. South Asia could emerge as a peaceful region only through strong and firm Indian policies.

Advocating a "multi-faceted, multi-directional engagement with all major power centres, he said that forging issue-based alignments might prove to be the most effective strategy for India in both the short and long term.

He also called for evolving a technology policy for the energy sector, making use of the immense potential for the production of bio-diesel and development of solar energy. Diplomatic breakthroughs and political initiatives involving countries in the region could ensure large-scale supplies of clean and natural gas through pipelines.

The rise of fundamental activities and growing network of international terrorist groups in South East Asia demanded closer cooperation between India and South-East Asia to counter this menace.

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