G8 slap on Indian face, No takers for Indian Govt's Ranting and Ravings

G8 slap on Indian face

No takers for Govt's Pak-hand theory

Shobori Ganguli New Delhi

11-7 blasts: Ticked off by United States, chastened Prime Minister talks of peace ---- More than a week since terror ripped Mumbai apart, India's inability to produce concrete evidence against Pakistan has rendered its attempts to trap the usual suspect rather feeble. While Pakistan is widely accepted as the fountainhead of terror in the subcontinent, India has been roundly ticked off by the US for not gathering enough proof against its neighbour on the Mumbai blasts.

That Islamabad has been the gainer in this round is evident in the unequivocal praise heaped on Pakistan by the Americans for its fight against terror. This, along with a rather general "condemnation" from the G-8, instead of a decisive rap on Pakistan's knuckles, has fed the impression that India's may be a case of cry wolf after all.

Islamabad has turned the occasion to its diplomatic advantage to impress upon the international community that Pakistan is a bogey raised by the Indian leadership to cover up the failure of its security agencies to nab the real home-grown persons residing in the very heart of Mumbai.

A chastened Manmohan Singh on his return from St Petersburg on Tuesday, therefore, said, "I have always believed the destiny of the people of South Asia are closely inter-linked," and that "Both our countries need peace and stability."

This is a significant humbling since the Prime Minister's public posturing in Mumbai last Friday, where, in a rather delayed reaction, he had warned Pakistan that "If the acts of terrorism are not controlled, it is exceedingly difficult for any Government to carry forward what may be called as normalisation and peace process." He had also said, "We are certain that these terror modules are instigated, inspired and supported by elements across the border."

Clearly, Manmohan Singh found no takers for this at the G-8 summit. Expressing mere "outrage" at the July 11 attack, the G-8 registered its "solidarity with the Government and the people of India," and conveyed its "deepest condolences to the victims and their families."

India's hopes of getting the G-8 to condemn Pakistan were roundly dashed when the influential world grouping simply indicated its determination to "continue the fight against terrorism by all legitimate means." While the statement did promise to bring the "perpetrators, organisers, sponsors" to book, the silence on Pakistan was stunning. Eventually the G-8 leaders only threw in their lot with India because "terrorism ... consbreastutes a threat to each of our country, as well as to international peace and security."

Meanwhile, in a stern rebuff, a middle-level officer in the Bush Administration suggested India should rely on hard evidence before pointing fingers. "I know there's a lot of speculation out there now.... But I think we need to be led by the evidence before we start trying to draw conclusions and make policy pronouncements on it," US buttistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said. He warned that this will be the "atbreastude of others as well."

Negating India's claim as a Pak-sponsored terror victim, Boucher said, "The persons that we're fighting against have been fighting against Afghanistan, been fighting against Pakistan, been fighting against the US, been fighting against Europeans, and maybe some of them fighting against India, as well." What India really needs to take note of is Boucher's conclusion: "No country has done more to fight Al Qaeda or has lost more people in doing so than Pakistan."

Gloating over this commendation, Pakistan Foreign Minister Mahmud Kasuri said, "The US, European Union and other leading countries are not so stupid as to pay public compliments if they think Pakistan is actually running (person) training camps albeit not for Afghanistan but Kashmir, because in the ultimate analysis, it all gets linked."

Kasuri charged that, "The unequivocal condemnation means (India) just wanted an excuse to link something to Pakistan, they wanted a peg to hang their coat on. Only a very ingenious lawyer would put that sort of interpretation."

Lack of proof against Pakistan in the Mumbai case has therefore left the Prime Minister with weak formulations phrases like the dialogue process has "suffered," and that we should "reflect on our relations with Pakistan."