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From
http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,628386,00.html
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Angry India rebukes peacemaker Blair
Handshake of 'peace' fails
Nicholas Watt, Bangalore
Sunday January 6, 2002
The Observer
Tony Blair suffered a rare public rebuke yesterday when a leading
member of the Indian Cabinet made clear that New Delhi is deeply
irritated by his pledge to act as a 'calming influence' over Kashmir.
On the eve of the Prime Minister's talks with his Indian counterpart,
Blair was told in unequivocal terms that India needs no lectures from
its former colonial rulers on the need for restraint.
Standing within feet of the Prime Minister on a platform at an
industrial conference in Bangalore, the Indian Minister for
Parliamentary Affairs threw Blair's language back at him. 'People say
you have come to cool us dow
n,' Pramod Mahajan said. 'We have been cool enough for the last 50 years.'
The Minister also accused the West of operating double standards by attacking the
Taliban, while taking a more lenient stance with Kashmiri militants based in Pakistan.
'There cannot be one rule for Mullah Omar and anothe
r for Maulana Azhar, [a Pakistani militant],' he said.
Mahajan was careful to qualify his remarks, declaring that Blair was a world leader
who was welcome in India. He also peppered his speech with witty references to the
historic links between India and Britain, remarking th
at while Britain may have invented cricket, India has provided Britain with its
cricket captain.
But the politically charged comments from one of the most vocal members of the Indian
Cabinet appeared to be designed to warn Blair to tread carefully when he meets his
Indian counterpart, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in New Del
hi tonight. That meeting will be followed by talks in Pakistan with its President,
Pervez Musharraf.
As he embarks on another round of shuttle diplomacy, Blair has tried to cast himself
as an impartial figure whose presence could help improve relations between India and
Pakistan. But Blair was given a taste of the sensit
ivity over the issue when he appeared to side with Islamabad.
In an interview with Sky television, which was broadcast on the Indian Star Television
satellite station on Friday, Blair described Pakistan's position on Kashmir as 'very
strong'. Opposition politicians lambasted him, fo
rcing the Indian Foreign Ministry to issue a statement saying that it had no
difficulty with his remarks.
At a briefing yesterday, Blair's spokesman said that the Indian media had
misunderstood the Prime Minister who had merely suggested that Pakistan's views on
Kashmir were strongly held.
Because the state of Jammu and Kashmir was formally incorporated into India by an act
of the British Parliament when the subcontinent was partitioned into India and
Pakistan in 1947, New Delhi believes Kashmir is a domest
ic issue.
Pakistan believes that it should be declared the rightful ruler of Kashmir because of
the territory's predominantly Muslim population. Islamabad also points out that India
has failed to live up to its commitment to hold a
referendum in Kashmir.
As he prepared to fly to Delhi for today's talks with Vajpayee, Blair attempted to
reach out to India by denouncing Kashmiri terrorists who launched a suicide attack on
the Indian Parliament last month and urging Pakistan
to crack down on militants.
This is likely to irritate Musharraf who can point out that Pakistan has carried out
an unprecedented wave of arrests of alleged militants.
The Prime Minister reinforced his message about Islamist militants by
declaring that the time had come for the Islamic world to deal with
its fundamentalists. In a marked change of emphasis, Blair said that
only the 'true voice of Islam itself' could tackle the fanatics who
warped 'caring and decent' Muslim principles.
His remarks will be seen as significant because until now he said
that the onus was on the West to make it clear that its war against
terrorism was not an assault on Islam.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
End<{{{
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