PM, Obama concerned over growing terror hold in Pak, Afghan

M K Razdan
London, Apr 1 (PTI) Setting the tone for their first
meeting, US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh Wednesday voiced deep concern over the growing
hold of terrorist elements in Pakistan and Afghanistan with
the Indian leadership getting increasingly worried over the
dangerous situation in its neighbourhood.

Singh, who will meet the new American leader here
Thursday immediately after the conclusion of the G-20 summit,
said that "the epicentre of terrorism" was in Pakistan and
"the world community has to come to grips with this harsh
reality".

While he had not studied Obama's recently-announced
strategy to stabilise Afghanistan and Pakistan, now known as
"AfPak" plan, Singh expressed the hope that "whatever the
world community plans to do they will pay adequate attention
that terrorism ceases to be a problem in Afghanistan as well
as Pakistan."

Indian Prime Minister's remarks come in the backdrop of
the audacious terror strikes in Lahore during the past one
month, including Monday's attack on a police training school,
about 15 km from the border with India, which is now deeply
concerned at the "really dangerous situation" so close to it.

Recognising that terrorists were making frontal attacks
on the security forces, India has stepped up its vigil.

On his part, Obama told a press conference here after
talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that they
discussed the challenge posed by al-Qaeda terrorists, who were
still plotting in Pakistan.

They also discussed the need to deny safe havens for
al-Qaeda terrorists, who had attacked cities in both their
countries.

The Afghanistan-Pakistan situation will undoubtedly be
high on the agenda when Obama and Singh meet for about 45
minutes on the sidelines of the summit.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be among the
top members of his Cabinet who will accompany Obama to the
meeting at which the Indian leader will be assisted by
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia,
National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary
Shivshankar Menon.

Although Singh did not make any direct comment on the new
AfPak policy of Obama, Indian officials said it was too early
to say how it would pan out. However, the policy had positive
aspects insofar as it focussed on getting Pakistan to act
against Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Another positive element in the Obama policy is that it
wanted to involve regional players including India and Iran
which can be useful in addressing the situation, Indian
officials said.

Besides these regional issues, the two leaders will focus
on a variety of bilateral matters including taking forward the
strategic dimension of the bilateral ties.

The Indian Prime Minister also spoke about his assessment
on why LeT, the militant group responsible for the Mumbai
attacks, has been able to bounce back quickly and appears to
be again menacing India with the recent firelight in Kashmir.

"It is because the promises that the government of
Pakistan have made to control terrorism and all its
instrumentalities, they are either not able to control them
or they are not willing to control them," he said.

About Pakistan's inability to rein in militant
groups, Singh said he was not an expert on how Pakistan is
being run. "But the proof of pudding is in the eating."

"That the attacks on Mumbai were planned and acted
upon in Pakistani territory is now admitted by everybody,
including the intelligence agencies of developed countries.

"That is living proof that despite many promises made
by Pakistan since 2004 to my predecessor and to me that
Pakistan will not be allowed to be used to undertake acts of
terror against India, in practice no effective action has been
taken to control terror," Singh said. PTI KIM