.png)
.jpg)
Setting aside the domestic battering his image has taken in recent months, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been in his element on US soil, talking tough and straight, officials said. Refusing to be cowed down be gratuitous advice coming from across New Delhi, a tough talking Singh clearly told the United Nations General Assembly that Jammu & Kashmir was an "integral part" of India and there was no way India would accept any claims to its sovereign territorial integrity.
Snubbing Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had used the same forum on Friday to seek UN intercession to resolve the J&K issue, Singh said countries like Pakistan cannot "absolve themselves of the responsibility to prevent their territories from being used to launch acts of terrorism."
"There can be no tolerance for states sheltering, arming, training or financing terrorists," Singh sternly said. "It is imperative that the territory of Pakistan and the areas under its control are not utilized for aiding and abetting terrorism directed against India," the PM said. "It is equally important that the terrorist machinery that draws its sustenance from Pakistan be shut down. There must be a clear understanding," he said, "of the fact Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and that there can never, ever, be a compromise with the unity and territorial integrity of India."
The Prime Minister's tough comments came on the eve of his first meeting with Sharif since the latter was elected to head the Pakistani government, clearly limiting the possibility of any real breakthrough in bilateral relations. Singh and Sharif are scheduled to meet on Sunday in New York where both are visiting for the 68th UNGA session.
The Indian Prime Minister also bluntly stated that the UN needed to reform itself to be in sync with modern times, almost 70 years after its creation, particularly when all of Asia and Africa were free and multilateral financial institutions also needed to giving developing countries a greater say in running their affairs.
However, rankled by the daily, almost relentless efforts by terrorists to infiltrate into J&K frequently causing grave casualties, the Indian Prime Minister particularly minced no words to ram home the point that terrorism emanating from Pakistan was impacting India "every waking hour." According to officials, the tenor of the usually mild Prime Minister was "different and exceptionally firm," on both the subjects of terrorism and Pakistan's refusal or inability to rein in terrorists attempting to create havoc in India.
During his almost three hour long meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington on Friday, not only did he impress upon the US President the difficulties India faces constantly, given the fact that the epicentre of terrorism remains focused in Pakistan," and even extract a pledge that terror against India would "frankly" be raised by Obama during US-Pak talks, he was clear that any expectations of any breakthrough during his meeting with Pakistan's Premier Nawaz Sharif "have toned down given the terror arm which is still active in the subcontinent."
Islamabad's refusal to rein in Hafeez Saeed, the head of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) also came up during the talks, and Obama agreed that the LeT posed a threat not only to India but also to the USA and the world in general.
Prime Minister referred to the attacks in Jammu and highlighted how terror emanating from Pakistan impacts India "every waking hour" day in and day out, according to sources.
It appears certain that talks between Singh and Sharif, due at the former's hotel, will witness some equally plain speaking. Islamabad's sketchy efforts to bring to book the perpetrators of the November 26, 2008 will be raised as a reminder to the Pakistani Premier that actions on the ground need to be forthcoming and mere words and intent will not suffice.
Nilova Roy Chaudhury is Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Review of Global Affairs