New Delhi
October 17, 2001
JASWANT
SINGH:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, Good Afternoon. It is my distinct
pleasure that we have my friend Secretary of State to meet all of you. I
had the occasion to meet him very recently in Washington on the 2nd
of October and I am delighted to have been able to play host to him since
yesterday. He leaves shortly for Shanghai.
As
the Prime Minister informed the Secretary of State, we are not treating
this visit by him as a visit of the Secretary of State of the United
States of America, as we do of a full formal visit to India.
I had a very cordial, very frank and, a very fruitful discussion
with the Secretary of State yesterday where we spent just an hour and a
half discussing issues together. We had a pleasant supper together and
then we covered the entire range of issues bilateral to India-United
States of America; regional as also global issues, and of course regional
aspects covering the latest developments in Afghanistan, particularly,
both September 11, and thereafter October 2nd came up for a
considerable extent of mutual discussion.
I
do want to repeat what the Prime Minister had said in his very last
address to the Joint Session of the US Congress that India and the United
States of America being natural allies, I treat my friend Colin’s visit
as a part of the same demonstration.
We
continue to hold that September 11 was an assault on freedom, on
civilisation, on democracy. India’s stand against terrorism not simply
starting from September 11even before that, has been unequivocal.
We stand shoulder to shoulder with the international community and
the United States of America in our battle against this global menace. It
is my pleasure, ladies and gentlemen, to now request my friend and guest
the Secretary of State to share his thoughts with us.
MR.
COLIN POWELL: Thank
you very much, Mr. Minister, for your warm welcome and for your friendship
as well. It means a great deal to me. I thank you and all other your
colleagues, and especially the Prime Minister for the courtesies extended
to me in this all too brief visit. I
look forward to returning in some future time and spending much more time
here in India.
As
you have noted, we are natural allies - two great democracies who believe
in a common set of values that have served both our nations well.
President Bush had made it absolutely clear that transforming relationship
with India and to put it on a higher plane is one of his priorities. I
found that this view is entirely shared by Prime Minister Vajpayee and his
colleagues as well. The United States and India have a responsibility, as
the world’s largest multi-ethnic democracies, to work in close
partnership with each other. The prospects have never been brighter for
cooperation across a whole range of issues. We have discussed all of these
issues in the past dozen or so hours. President Bush asked me to come here
to discuss the global coalition against terrorism on how the United States
and India can continue their efforts over the long haul.
As
an aside I might mention here now that we know the Prime Minister will be
coming to the United States for the United Nations General Assembly
meeting in early November, and President Bush has extended an invitation
to the Prime Minister to come to Washington on the 9th of
November for a working visit. Both the President and we look forward to
receiving the Prime Minister in Washington on the 9th of
November. I am also pleased that, of course, that invitation has been
accepted. I can assure you will be warmly welcomed Mr. Minister.
President
Bush also asked me to convey his personal thanks to the Prime Minister for
the support we have already received from India and especially Foreign
Minister Singh who has been in the forefront of developing and presenting
those support offers to us over the past month. We have stood shoulder to
shoulder in this fight against terrorism.
Both the United States and India were quick to realise that the
attacks of September 11th were attacks on the whole world.
Citizens of some eighty countries were among the victims including
many Indian citizens who remained among the missing.
Our hearts go out to the families here in India of those who were
lost. Our heartfelt thanks to the people of India for the outpouring of
sympathy we have received for our own losses in the attacks.
I
want to make it clear that our focus in Afghanistan now is eradicating Al
Qaeda network and the terrorist use of Afghanistan as a safe haven, to
stop the invasion of Afghanistan that has taken place as a result of the
presence of Al Qaeda. We will achieve that goal. President Bush and the
international coalition is determined. We will persist and we will
prevail. Only after the terrorists are gone can there be a broad-based
Government in Afghanistan that represents all elements of Afghan society,
brings an end to fighting, lives in harmony with its neighbours in the
neighbourhood that coexist, begins the task of reconstruction, and
welcomes the refugees back home.
My
colleagues here pointed out correctly that the problem of terrorism is not
only limited to Afghanistan. I assure them that our efforts are directed
against all terrorism. The United States and India are united against
terrorism and that includes the terrorism that has been directed against
India as well. Even before the September 11th attacks, the
United States and India were cooperating extensively against terrorism. We
established a Counter-Terrorism Joint
Working Group last January, for example. Now our cooperation is even more
intense. Today, Home Minister Advani and I signed a mutual Legal
Assistance Treaty that will enhance our fight against crime.
Clearly,
a major focus of my trip has been on ways the United States and India can
work together in advancing the international coalition against terrorism.
My talks with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister and other
officials covered many other important issues as well.
We agreed on the far-reaching importance of the new Indo-US
relationship which is anchored by the commitment of our leaders and by the
friendship of our peoples. I am confident that our relations, already
improving substantially, are becoming and will become even stronger.
President
Bush’s waiver of Glenn Amendment sanctions allows the United States and
India to move forward with broader cooperation between the two sides.
During the course of my visit, I had occasion to discuss President
Bush’s new strategic framework and I briefed the Prime Minister on our
continuing exchanges with Russia on this very very vital subject. We
discussed how to promote stability on the subcontinent in my talks both
here and in Pakistan. I request the leaders of both the nations to
continue their dialogue and take steps to reduce tension between them. I
leave today for the APEC Ministerial, confident that the United States and
India stand together against the scourge of international terrorism,
strengthened by our shared
democratic values, and ready as never before to work together for freedom,
prosperity, and security in the region and in the world. Finally, once
again my good friend, I thank you for the warm hospitality you have
extended to me. Thank you Mr. Minister.
QUESTION
(MR. ASHOK SHARMA, AP):
Sir, we wonder how can Pakistan be a part of the international effort to
combat terrorism. Pakistan has promoted terrorism in Afghanistan and in
Kashmir. It still maintains
diplomatic ties with the Taliban. Should
not India be attacking Pakistan going by the logic that the United States
is attacking Afghanistan?
JASWANT
SINGH:
I presume that question is addressed to me.
MR.
COLIN POWELL: You can
take it. I would not want to be inhospitable.
If you wish, its all yours.
I
think Pakistan has made it clear in recent weeks that they recognise the
nature of the Taliban regime, and are working with us to fight against Al
Qaeda. They are working with
us to see what kind of a Government can be put together in the post-Taliban
regime. We deplore terrorism wherever it exists, whether it is the kind of
terrorism we saw on the 11th of September, or the kind of
terrorism that we saw on the 1st of October in Srinagar.
We believe that all nations who are trying to move forward in a 21st
century that I think will be shaped more and more by democracy and the
values of individual liberty and freedom, can join in this coalition. We
welcome all those who are committed to those principles and committed
against terrorism.
QUESTION
(AMERICAN PRESS): Mr.
Secretary, you said yesterday in Pakistan that Kashmir is a central issue
between India and Pakistan. You also said the aspirations of the Kashmiri
people must be respected. This
caused some unease here in India. Do you have any comment please?
MR.
COLIN POWELL: Yes.
I didn’t say ‘a central’. If you look at it carefully, I said
‘central’ in the sense that I believe it is an important issue, and to
suggest that it isn’t, wouldn’t have been accurate. But it is more
important to look at the rest of my statement where I said that we should
move forward on the basis of dialogue, on the basis of efforts to reduce
tension, to avoid violence, and with respect to human rights. I think that
is sound statement.
The
issue of Kashmir is one that has to be resolved between India and
Pakistan. The United States is a friend of both of those nations. To the
extent that both nations can find our efforts to be helpful in some way or
the other, we will be willing to be helpful. I think it is more important
to focus on the rest of my statement than on that particular word, which
has somehow had an article slipped in front of it while I wasn’t
looking.
QUESTION
(INDIAN PRESS): Osama-bin-Laden
in an interview to Al Jazeera TV claimed that the Islamic world had helped
Pakistan build the nuclear bomb and
as such it is an Islamic bomb, and can be used by them as and when they
choose. Your comments please.
MR.
COLIN POWELL:
Nonsense. Osama-bin-Laden is not a representative of Islam.
He is a terrorist; he is a murderer. He has murdered innocent
Indians, innocent Americans, innocent Pakistanis, innocent people from all
over the world. He should not in any way be elevated to the status of a
leader who believes in any faith. He believes only in power.
He has done nothing to help the people who are suffering in the
world. All he has done is, he has brought more evil into the world, and
death and destruction to individual citizens.
There can be no linkage between what he might be doing and what any
other nation may be doing. I just reject that as nonsense.
QUESTION
(NEW YORK TIMES): Mr.
Secretary, a couple of summers ago the Central Intelligence Agency was
reported to suggest that the America’s plans to go forward with the
National Missile Defence would incite China to expand its nuclear arsenal,
and that in turn will incite India and Pakistan to an arms race in South
Asia. Do you personally agree with that assessment? You said you discussed
the strategic issues today. How
did it come up today?
MR.
COLIN POWELL: No, I
don’t agree with that assessment. I think the kind of missile defence
that we are planning on is a very limited missile defence. I think once
people come to understand the kind of reductions we are going to make in
our strategic offensive weapons - significant reductions, to much much
lower numbers – and when people have a chance to get a look in, come to
understand the nature of our limited missile defence,
I don’t think either Russia or China will find it destabilising
with respect to their deterrent forces.
In my conversations both here and in Islamabad, I heard from both
sides about this issue. We
did have the conversation. I
took the opportunity of my meeting with the Prime Minister to describe the
President’s strategic framework concept and to thank the Indians for
their understanding of the importance of missile defence. I get the sense
that both nations understand the nature of these weapons and the
importance of constraining their developments so that they serve as
deterrents, and do not move from a strategy of deterrence to any other
kind of strategy. So there is no reason for arms race to develop based on
what the United States is planning with missile defence. In fact, I think
missile defence in the long run will be seen as stabilising, not
destabilising, because it takes something of the currency away from the
value of strategic offensive weapons.
QUESTION (MS. SONIA TRIKHA, INDIAN EXPRESS): My question is addressed to both of you. Mr. Secretary, you said in Islamabad yesterday that you believed that the Kashmir issue is central to the relationship between India and Pakistan. This is not a view shared by India which has advocated a composite dialogue covering various political and economic aspects with Pakistan, and not a unifocal approach, as you have said, that centres on Kashmir alone. Do you think that the world sees the wisdom of India’s stand in this?
JASWANT
SINGH: I think the
Secretary of State has more than adequately really read out what he said
in Islamabad. Obviously that is the position that the United States of
America has and has had. As two democracies we could disagree on an event,
but we don’t need necessarily to be disagreeable about the disagreement.
Together, the question of State of Jammu and Kashmir is an example of the
secular tradition of the Indian nation.
In that sense we really cannot move towards reinventing the
two-nation theory all over again. We have conveyed these views to the
Secretary of State and we will continue to do so.
MR.
COLIN POWELL: I agree
totally.
QUESTION
(ABC): Secretary
Powell, there was a strain of Anthrax found on the letter to Senator
Dashcle that is said to be highly refined and pure, suggesting state
sponsorship. Could you comment on that?
Mr.
Foreign Minister, could you tell me what your concerns are about the
involving and growing relationship between the United States and Pakistan;
and have you assured the United States that you will do your part to calm
down tensions in Kashmir?
JASWANT
SINGH: I can answer
that very easily. I am glad
you asked that. The
relationship that India has and will develop with the United States of
America is not a hyphenated relationship. We don’t see it through any
prism of relation between any other country.
We have a relationship with our western neighbour. We are
committed. This Government has demonstrated commitment on improving our
relations with Pakistan, as perhaps no other Government in the last fifty
years has, despite difficulties and uncertainties. The Prime Minister has
often said, and I repeated that to the Secretary of State, that you can
change friends but you can’t change neighbours. We can certainly not
alter geography. Pakistan
with India has to learn to live together as good neighbours.
It will come, be assured. We cannot push the pace of it.
Nobody can push the pace of it.
The people of the two countries realise the essential sanity of
what the Prime Minister of India has repeatedly said that the two people
have to learn, have to forget the the mistakes of the past fifty years,
and we have to learn to live together as we address what are our real
enemies of today – poverty, want -
as the two countries endeavour to move together in the 21st
century and meet the challenges of the 21st century.
MR.
COLIN POWELL: I really
can’t add anything about the Anthrax story and the Dashcle envelope and
what they analysed. I just have not any more information than you would
really have from Washington. So,
I had better stay away from that.
QUESTION
(MR. ANURAG TOMAR, ZEE NEWS): Mr.
Secretary, Powell, what is your perception about India-US relations after
having a whole lot of meetings on important issues with senior Indian
leaders? Where does it stand
today? Where does it go?
MR.
COLIN POWELL: I think
our relations are strong. They have improved so much in recent years. I
was saying to my colleagues earlier that as the Chief of Joint Chiefs of
Staff and the most of years I spent in senior positions in the US military
back in the 70s and through the 80s, we really didn’t have much to do
with India regrettably. That has now all changed. So, these two great
democracies can now work together. Here
is a mutual interest. We are trying to remove whatever irritations exist
in our relationship. This improvement was taking place before the 11th
of September, and since the 11th of September, with the strong
support that we received from the Indian Government. We have the
opportunity to accelerate the pace of change. We look forward to season
that opportunity. I think it will be in the interest not only of our two
countries but in the interest of South Asia as well.
QUESTION
(NBC NEWS): Mr.
Secretary, can you share any information about what just happened in
Jerusalem with the shooting of a Cabinet Minister; and how this will
affect your efforts to try to persuade both sides to resume a more
meaningful dialogue and persuade the Israelis in particular not to take
counter action?
MR.
COLIN POWELL: I just
heard about that before the Press Conference. I don’t know the details
as to who has taken credit for the shooting and what the nature of the
incident was. So, I really don’t have a comment at this time.
QUESTION
(NBC NEWS): Are you
going to try to reach out to Mr. Sharon and try to persuade him that no
matter what has happened in this instance that he should not retreat from
…
MR.
COLIN POWELL: I
think I had better understand the incidents before I suggest that to Mr.
Sharon. But, as you know, I
speak to him on a regular basis, if not daily, every other day or so. I
look forward to doing that the next day or so.
QUESTION
(NBC NEWS): Mr.
Foreign Minister, in particular, on the subject of the US Congress now
lifting some remaining sanctions and the expressed proposal by the
Administration to follow it up by taking advantage of the waving, granting
more economic aid and possibly military aid in the future to Pakistan, do
you think that this economic aid to Pakistan is potentially destabilising
to the relationship that India has with the United States?
Is this too much of a reward for Pakistan …
JASWANT
SINGH: I understand
your question. I have just responded to a similar question. India’s
relationship with the United States of America is not subject, and is not
under the veto of any other relationship. These are two sovereign
countries. It is very good luck to our western neighbours in Pakistan.
It is my hope that they will utilise the economic aid for the right
purpose. But that again is something that Pakistan has to decide.
I can’t really very well decide for Pakistan, or even ordained to
advise Pakistan how they should do it. We have a certain experience about
the military aid to Pakistan in the past. Now that we see some evidence of
Pakistan moving away from fixed positions of the past and joining the rest
of the international community, we can only hope that the same approach
will govern the utilisation of any aid or assistance that they receive
from the United States of America or from any other country.
(Concluded)