Mohan I am sure you have read this. Further to my negative thoughts on the BJP and both our thoughts on the Kashmir issue. Hope you are thriving generally down there in Texas.
For Private Use Only
(C) Stratfor
Global Intelligence Update
Red Alert
March 17, 1998
Pakistan and Expel Diplomats Over Terrorism Allegations
Declaring that it had incontrovertible evidence of the involvement of
Indian intelligence operatives in recent violence in Pakistan, Islamabad on
Saturday declared "persona non grata" and expelled P. N. Nair, visa attache
at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. In retaliation, India expelled
Hamidullah Khan, a diplomat at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi,
for "indulging in activities incompatible with his diplomatic status."
At a news conference on Saturday, Pakistan's Federal Minister for
Information and Media Development, Mushahid Hussain Syed, announced that
Pakistan had concrete evidence of the involvement of India's Research and
Analysis Wing in a series of 30 bombing attacks since the beginning of the
year, that have left 86 people dead and 289 injured. Syed argued that New
Delhi was attempting to divert attention from the Kashmir conflict and from
internal Indian instability sparked by the political ascendence of the
Hindu nationalist Bharatya Janata Party (BJP). Pakistani President
Mohammad Rafiq Tarar reinforced Syed's comments Saturday, stating that all
terrorist acts within Pakistan are being carried out by foreign elements,
rather than by sectarian Pakistani elements as had been suggested.
Pakistan has raised the issue with the UN Security Council and Human Rights
Commission in Geneva.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan, speaking Monday at the meeting
of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in
Doha, lashed out at India's new Hindu nationalist-dominated regime, stating
that "the veneer of secularism is now being cast aside" and that "unabashed
anti-Moslem" elements now hold sway in India. Nevertheless, he stated that
he hoped India would resolve the "procedural impasse" that has stalled
negotiations between the two countries, and called on OIC Foreign Ministers
to support Pakistan's efforts at advancing the process of peace and
rapprochement represented by the Pakistan-India talks.
India's BJP was only Sunday asked to form a government and already Pakistan has made its position on a Hindu nationalist neighbor clear. The accusation that India has been waging a concerted campaign of terror in Pakistan for the last three months represents a serious escalation in already grim Pakistani-Indian relations. The prospect for peace between Pakistan and India seems highly unlikely in the foreseeable future. Far more likely is an escalation of hostilities over the Jammu and Kashmir regions, with the usual accompanying border clashes. |
