PM tells Pak some home truths

This was not in the original Indian script. In fact, the text of Vajpayee’s original speech had been circulated beforehand to send Pakistan a signal. But, true to his form, the Pakistan President digressed from the main issue of revitalisation of NAM and took potshots at India, be it on permanent membership of Security Council, Kashmir or human right violations.

Musharraf was so stung by Vajpayee’s counter-attack that he raised his hand seeking right of reply. To the Pakistani delegation’s embarrassment, Malaysia ignored this. Later, the Pakistanis went to the NAM secretariat to insist on a right to reply.

There was more bad news for them. Malaysian foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar later said at a Press conference that raising of bilateral issues was not allowed by the NAM charter.

In fact, the temperature at the summit went up by several degrees when Musharraf said in his speech: ‘‘NAM must remain a symbol of hope for people who, even today, struggle to realise their inalienable right to self-determination. Two supreme cases stand out — those of the oppressed people of Kashmir and Palestine. The legitimacy of their cause is recognised by the UN.’’

Even before Vajpayee took to the podium to reject Musharraf’s allegations, Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal was on the front foot saying, ‘‘Pakistan is short on vision, long on venom. Islamabad has little capacity to initiate any good but a lot of capacity to vitiate the atmosphere. Every major terrorist event in the world has a footprint of Pakistan.’’ But considering that Parliament is in session and Pakistan-sponsored terrorism a key issue in Himachal polls, it was left to Vajpayee to rebut Musharraf’s tirade as another four paragraphs were added to his speech.

Observing that he had no intention of raising bilateral issues at the summit, Vajpayee said he was ‘‘constrained’’ to respond to some allegations against India. ‘‘President Musharraf has referred to my country a little while ago. His strange logic masks Pakistan’s territorial designs on an integral part of India. He justifies terrorism against India by talking of root causes,’’ the Prime Minister said. He went on to ask Musharraf to ‘‘look into sectarian terrorism in his country’’ and take action against the perpetrators of such acts. ‘‘Musharraf talks of the oppressed people of Kashmir. These same people very recently cast their ballots in an election universally recognized as free and fair. They defied the bullets of terrorists, aided and abetted by Pakistan,’’ Vajpayee said.

It seems that the PM for once was in no mood to forgive what Sibal dismissed as ‘‘childish behaviour’’ of Musharraf. Vajpayee lampooned Musharraf for talking about an ‘‘international human order’’ while supporting terrorism in Kashmir. ‘‘Those very terrorists assassinated candidates and political activists in the J&K elections and killed women and children because they refused to provide them food and shelter. These terrorists continue to perpetrate violence against innocent civilians every day. Yet Musharraf talks of an international humanitarian order,’’ he concluded.

The India-Pakistan sideshow continued much after Vajpayee had spoken with Musharraf shouting before the TV cameras and reporters that Pakistan had no desire to talk to India if New Delhi did not want to talk. Prime Minister Mohammed Khurshid Kasuri was also around the media centre to speak his mind. He was unhappy that Vajpayee even before landing for the NAM summit had ruled out any dialogue. In fact before going to address the NAM members, Vajpayee told reporters that there was no question of his meeting Musharraf.

A piqued External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha was also around to take on the Pakistanis. He said India had no intention of raising bilateral issues at NAM but was forced to respond after Musharraf misused the multilateral forum. He pointed out that no member, except for Pakistan, had raised the issue of NAM playing the referee in conflict resolution.