By: Colonel (Retd) A Sridharan, VSM
chitrasri@vsnl.com
June 10, 2003

Reference Remarks by the US and Pakistani Presidents in Camp David on June 24, 2003 (see transcript - Good day, Mr. President. Thank you so much for coming. Laura and I are honored that you and Mrs. Musharraf are joining us here at Camp David. President Musharraf is a courageous leader and a friend of the United States. America has a strong relationship with Pakistan, and we have benefitted from the industry and the talents of Pakistani Americans. Today, our two nations are working together closely on common challenges. Both the United States and Pakistan are threatened by global terror, and we're determined to defeat it. Pakistan's support was essential in our campaign against the Taliban.)

My views on the issues are as follows:

So President Musharraf has got $ 3 billion further dole from George Bush, of which half goes to defence matters and the other half for development or to pay off the interest burden of the huge sums of loan outstanding against Pakistan. Of course this does not include the F 16s for which we should expect some other method being adopted to make that sale also possible.

The dole from the US to Pakistan for the arms should not worry us in India too much. After all we too have been shopping for arms and therefore, may not have any right to crib. However, we pay for the arms and Pakistan gets it as a sort of grant, to be written off over a period of time, just as her debt of $ one billion was written off only a few months ago. That too does not matter for our economy is too strong for Pakistan to ever come up to our status.

But what must worry us is the use of the phrase cross border "infiltration" and not cross border "terrorism" by George Bush. "Cross border", remaining the common phrase, let us see the implication of the word "infiltration" vis-à-vis "terrorism." You may call it as one and the same but when you are dealing with diplomatic usage of words and phrases, we must be more careful, for what a diplomat means is not what you and I understand and, he too may not imply what he says.

Infiltration is the method adopted by the military in which small groups of soldiers penetrate behind enemy’s line in order to carry out a mission to cause death and destruction of the enemy. This is also known as "attack by infiltration." But when terrorist use this method to cause death and destruction of innocent civilians, it is known as cross border "terrorism" and not cross border "infiltration".

When politicians and diplomats use the phrase cross border infiltration, what they are leaving unsaid is that such infiltration need not result in terrorist activities. For example, a large number of Bangladesh citizens infiltrate into India. So do a number of Mexicans cross the US - Mexico border. But in Kashmir, the infiltration that we are used to is neither the kind that is happening across the US-Mexico border and nor is it for a similar purpose. In Kashmir, terrorists nurtured in the Madrasas, trained and paid for by the Pakistani Government are doing heinous crimes against the human population of Kashmiris in India.

And, yet in the war against terrorism, for which the US is the champion, it has Pakistan as its comrade and, is willing to close its eyes for the crimes that Pakistani terrorists commit using infiltration as the method to commit these crimes. The only thing which is common to those in US-Mexico border and in Kashmir is that in the former it is innocent people who cross over for greener pastures and in Kashmir it is the terrorists who cross over, to kill people of Indian origin.

There are learned opinion makers and thinkers, diplomats and politicians who would like India to go and help the US in its inability to set things in order in Iraq. I have not heard many Indian leaders or diplomats (past and present) advocating that we should send our troops to Iraq provided Pakistan stops its terrorist activities using cross border infiltration as the method. Why? Is it because we are unconcerned by the death and destruction caused by these terrorists or is it because our soldier’s lives are less precious?

Colonel (Retd) A Sridharan, VSM