Embassy Row: Threat to India
Washington Times, March 15, 2007

James Morrison

Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen rejects the argument that poverty causes terrorism and is calling for a global war against terrorists without respect to religion or region.

"Terrorism is a hydra-headed monster. It is global," Mr. Sen said at a forum this week sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

"To look at it through blinkers of any particular religion, any particular region or any particular so-called cause would be not only dangerous but also a dangerous delusion because this is a phenomenon which is global and has to be tackled globally."

The Press Trust of India quoted the ambassador as rejecting poverty as an excuse for terrorism.
"That is an argument we don't buy," he said, adding that if poverty causes terrorism, then India "would be the country churning out the most number of terrorists."

Mr. Sen, in an obvious reference to India's regional rival Pakistan, said, "We are next to and right adjacent to the biggest source and destination of weapons of mass destruction. We are also adjacent to the largest global concentration of terrorists."

Mr. Sen expressed India's opposition to Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

"It is against India's national security interests to have another nuclear state in our area," he said.

The ambassador told the AIPAC audience that India strongly values its bilateral ties with Israel, although India did not establish full diplomatic relations with Israel until 1992. Since then, the two countries have cooperated widely on counterterrorism efforts and Israel has become India's second-largest arms supplier, after Russia.

Mr. Sen attributed the long delay in recognizing Israel to India's domestic politics especially during the Cold War, when India was closely aligned with the Soviet Union.

"We could have moved faster," he said.