PM firm on India role as S. Asia power

Washington, Nov. 23: The Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, made it abundantly clear that India was not going to walk away from its growing role as a South Asian power by emphasising India’s “enduring civilisational links with Afghanistan,” his commitment to normalising relations with Pakistan while warning, nevertheless, “we should not harbour any illusions that a selective approach to terrorism, tackling it one place while ignoring it in others will not work.”

Doffing his hat to the policy wonks at the Council on Foreign Relations that has long been seen as the fount of wisdom on Capitol Hill, Dr Singh laid out how tackling Afghanistan, terrorism and working with the United States for a world free of nuclear weapons, were shared goals of the world’s two most celebrated democracies.

On day one of his four-day visit to Washington, marked by a meeting with the US defence secretary, Mr Robert Gates, and an intense interaction with the US India Business Council, Dr Singh called for greater American participation in “India’s economic transformation.”

The Prime Minister pushed for a need to reform the UN and the Security Council.

He discounted the alleged lack of chemistry between him and the US President, Mr Barack Obama, saying “In my interactions with the President, I have found a shared thinking on the moral imperative of putting the poor at the forefront of the global agenda.”

“Our generation has an opportunity given to few, to remake a new global equilibrium,” he said, adding “nowhere are the changes more visible than in Asia. India and the United States can work together to create an open and inclusive regional architecture in the Asia-Pacific.”

In a pointed reference to the South Asia experts who have advised Mr Obama to limit Indian influence in Afghanistan, Dr Singh said, “We do not see Afghanistan as a theatre of influence, our interest is in building a region of peace and stability. India will continue to assist Afghanistan in building its institutions and its human resources…It is vitally important that all major regional and international players put their weight behind the government of Afghanistan.”

Dr Singh said his government had invested heavily over the past few years in normalising relations with Pakistan, adding “we made considerable progress on the road to a durable and permanent settlement of all outstanding issues.”

Saying that India was ready “to pick up the threads of dialogue including on issues related to Jammu and Kashmir,” he advised Pakistan to make a break with the past, abjure terrorism and come to the table with good faith and sincerity,” and “move forward to write a new chapter in the history of the sub-continent.”

More pertinently, only three days before the first anniversary of the Mumbai attack he brought up the single act that had derailed the peace process — the “heinous barbaric terrorist attacks on Mumbai.”

The Prime Minister delivered this warning to Pakistan which seeks to distinguish between the Pakistani establishment and rogue elements that work outside its ambit.