The Hindu : Front Page : ``More terrorist incidents could disrupt peace process''

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 07, 2005

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``More terrorist incidents could disrupt peace process''

N. Ram

Prime Minister asks BJP not to go after "cheap political points"

LONDON: Offering a measured perspective on Tuesday's foiled terrorist attack at Ayodhya in relation to the India-Pakistan peace process, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it clear he regarded it as "a major incident." He expressed concern that "certainly these incidents, if they get repeated, have the potential to disrupt" the India-Pakistan peace process.

Asked who might have been behind the Ayodhya incident, he firmly declined comment or judgment "until we see all the evidence." Confirming that intelligence agencies had learned of possible terrorist attacks on religious places, including Ayodhya, and other targets, he commended the security forces for successfully tackling the threat.

Dr. Singh took sharp issue with the Bharatiya Janata Party for trying to score "cheap political points" by using the Ayodhya incident in the absence of any "real issues" to pick up. Asked about the BJP's demand for the resignation of the Home Ministers of the Central and Uttar Pradesh Governments, the Prime Minister remarked: "By that logic, Mr. Advani should have resigned many a time... [when] he was the presiding deity at the Home Ministry." He cited the terrorist attacks at Akshardham, at Chattisinghpura, on the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly, and above all on Parliament as major cases in point, adding "we never used those occasions to score cheap political points."

These observations came during an interaction with journalists on board Air India 001 flying the Prime Minister and his delegation to the United Kingdom to participate in meetings connected with the G-8 summit and other engagements.

Asked whether the Ayodhya incident would affect the India-Pakistan peace process, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered this nuanced assessment: "I have always maintained that we need to carry public opinion to make a success of the peace process. Anything that comes in the way of public opinion, and certainly these incidents, if they get repeated, have the potential to disrupt the peace process. So all concerned have obligations [to keep]. In our Joint Statement, I and President Musharraf have committed ourselves to making the peace process irreversible. I sincerely hope that we can stick to that solemn commitment, both of us."

Studiously avoiding pointing the finger at Pakistan or anyone else, Dr. Singh offered the sombre reading that "there is no doubt that the infrastructure of terror is, by and large, intact." To a question about who benefited from such terrorist provocations, his answer was: "those who do not want the peace process to go on." In response to another question on the current state of India-Pakistan relations, he noted that progress had been made in people-to-people contacts and in other areas. There was an agreement to move ahead, although he would not say "everything is rosy in the garden of eden."

Asked about the former External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh's criticism of the Government, in the light of his role in the Kandahar incident, and his demand that the Prime Minister should say the Ayodhya attack was an insult to Hindus, the Prime Minister responded: "Of all people, Mr. Jaswant Singh who escorted Maulana Masood Azhar to the safety of Kandahar! It [the Ayodhya terrorist incident] is an insult to all human beings. When places of worship are attacked, something of us dies. As human beings, we should all feel concern."

Was there any security failure? "There is no security lapse," Dr. Singh responded. "We had known that the terrorist elements would provoke incidents like this and there was enough evidence that Ayodhya [could be targeted]. Our intelligence agencies had warned us about the possibility of this type of incident, and the way our security forces tackled this problem, they deserve our compliments."

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