US Secretary of State Colin Powell, declaring that the US and India should stand "shoulder to shoulder against terrorism," yesterday strongly condemned terrorist attacks by Islamic radicals in Indian-held Kashmir.
Flanked by India's foreign minister Jaswant Singh at a news conference, Powell also sought to defuse criticism from Indian officials in response to comments he made on Tuesday in Pakistan.
Both Powell and Singh hailed the progress of India-US relations in recent years, describing the two countries as being "natural allies" because of their shared values.
Powell and India's Home Affairs Minister Lal Krishna Advani signed a pact yesterday to fight international crime and terrorism.
The treaty will strengthen an extradition agreement signed by the two countries in 1999 and regularize channels for law enforcement cooperation between the two countries. It also allows for the exchange of evidence for use in criminal trials.
Powell said Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has accepted an invitation to visit Washington on Nov. 9.
India was one of the first countries to condemn the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US and to offer generous cooperation in the anti-terrorism struggle.
"The United States and India stand united against terrorism and that includes terrorism directed against India as well," Powell said.
Tensions between India and Pakistan rose dramatically after an Oct. 1 incident in which a car bomb killed about 40 people in the Indian sector of Kashmir.
The political fallout from the incident was one of the reasons Powell decided to visit the two South Asian rivals. He wants both to focus their energies on the anti-terrorism struggle.
He pleased Pakistan on Tuesday by saying that a key to an accommodation is a recognition that aspirations of the Kashmiri people must be accommodated.
"We certainly do not agree with this premise," Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said. "There should be no confusion between cause and effect. The present situation in Kashmir is a consequence of state-sponsored terrorism and is not the cause."
Powell also caused uneasiness here when he was quoted as saying that Kashmir is the "central" issue in Indo-Pakistan relations.
That fits Pakistan's description of the relationship. India believes that Kashmir "is one of the issues" dividing the two countries.
Powell disposed of the issue by saying he was misquoted. He said Kashmir is "a central issue" and said those were the words he used in Pakistan.
Powell arrived here after two days of clashes in Kashmir between Indian and Pakistani troops. He raised the subject during a meeting Tuesday night with Singh and raised it again yesterday with Vajpayee.
The Indian army said the shelling of Pakistani posts was to punish Pakistan for helping Islamic militants who are fighting to separate the Himalayan region from India, which Pakistan denies.
"The army will act very decisively with no holds barred," Defense Minister George Fernandes said. "India will be ruthless in dealing with infiltrators and the kind of methods used by them, like laying of mines, killings ... getting into suicidal exercises."
Fernandes said Indian soldiers killed 30 militants who tried to cross a cease-fire line that se-parates the Pakistani- and Indian-controlled portions of Kashmir. Pakistan accused Indian forces of killing a woman and injuring 25 other civilians.
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