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Taking Kashmir issue to UN a crucial mistake: Jaswant

PATNA, Apr 21 : External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said today India had committed "a crucial mistake" in its foreign policy by taking the Kashmir issue to the UN in 1948 after having convincingly defeated Pakistan in a war.

"It was a crucial mistake to take the issue to the world body after convincingly defeating Pakistan following its misadventure in Kashmir soon after partition.... Instead, we should have finished the task," he said while delivering Thakur Prasad Memorial lecture on India’s security and foreign policy.

Singh, however, did not elaborate on what he meant by finishing the task.

"It is for this error in management of our defence concern and foreign policy that succeeding generations in India are paying a heavy price," he said.

Tracing the cause of militancy in several parts of the country, Singh said its root lay in the invasion of Afghanistan by the erstwhile Soviet Union in which the US got involved through Pakistan leading to a civil war.

The cause of terrorism and narcotics and arms smuggling can be traced to the Afghan war in which the Soviets and the Americans involved themselves disturbing the balance of power in the region for which India is paying a heavy price, he said.

Singh said India’s commitment to peace and harmonious international relations without compromising on ideology or national interest had resulted in a paradigm shift in global perception of its security concerns.

"The same US, which led some nations in slamming India after the Pokhran test, has seen good reasons for having friendly ties with us...Our joint resolution against Taliban in the UN betokens our improving ties,’’ he said adding India always wanted good relations with the US but that had to be on equal footing.

He said that while imposing sanctions, the US had stated there would be no military to military contact with India, but "when I was received at the Pentagon as India’s Defence Minister during my recent visit under the Republican administration, it was military to military interaction at the highest level".

"We never begged for withdrawal of sanctions but they are being waived steadily....This is the dividend the inherent consistency in our foreign policy has given us," he said.

He, however, maintained that by limiting the concept of security to mere defending of India’s boundaries would not bring lasting peace.

"No lasting security can be achieved unless the people of the country feel secured about their livelihood and the livelihood of their children....So we have to address the issue of security in a larger context", he said. (PTI)

JeM ultras were on way to blow up temple

LUCKNOW, Apr 21: The three hardcore militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed, gunned down by police here on Wednesday last, were in the final stage of executing a meticulous plan to blow up the Ayodhya shrine the next day and then eliminate important political personalities across the country, a top intelligence official said here today.

The militants Salim and Sajid from Sindh province and Rashid from Lahore had visited the disputed Ramjanmbhumi-Babri mosque complex more than once during the last five months posing as Hindu devotee and made a study of the entry and exit routes besides studying the feasibility of driving to the spot to blow up the shrine, he said.

Equally meticulous had been the joint operation of the state intelligence and special task force, which kept a tab on them at every step during this period to understand their design, the official said.

"Initially they tried to fool us by frequently visiting Allahabad to create an impression that they were focussing on Mahakumbh but the interception of their messages to their headquarters in Pakistan and Afghanistan revealed that they were instead aiming at Ayodhya and then had plans to eliminate important political leaders across the country", the official said.

"They wanted to storm the shrine in the wee hours of Thursday to blow it up and once we intercepted the message a day before, the STF swung into action and gunned them down while they were planning to move to Ayodhya," the official said, adding "the Ayodhya design of the militants was only a tip of the iceberg as they had more sinister missions to accomplish."

The official said the Intelligence Bureau and other central agencies had passed on specific information during Mahakumbh that three ultras of Jaish-e-Mohammed, an outfit led by Maulana Azhar Mehmood in Pakistan, were on a suicide mission to Uttar Pradesh to cause large scale violence in Kumbh and blow up the Ayodhya shrine.

"Initially we concentrated on Mahakumbh and tracked down Wasi Ullah, Walli Ullah and Ubed Ullah, who in fact were later found to have provided shelter to these three militants in Allahabad", he said.

"We also had information about a consignment of weapons that was to reach Uttar Padesh, the official said, adding "all these messages were intercepted and this helped us to keep track of the movements of the militants. Electronic surveillance yielded good results and STF and intelligence personnel squads constantly watched their movement in Ayodhya as well".

The officials were also able to obtain the photographs of these militants which helped greatly in monitoring their movements. One of them dressed as a Hindu devotee visited up to the make shift Ram Lala Temple in order to survey the area to execute their mission.

The official said the militants did not stay in any hotels but were provided shelter by different conduits.

He said it was not clear as to how many other members of the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant outfit had actually sneaked into Uttar Pradesh.

Refusing to divulge information gathered on the other missions to be executed by at least two to three militant outfits, currently suspected to be on-move in the State, the official said "we are oaking our efforts to reach deep into their designs".

Commenting on Jaish-e-Mohammed, he said the outfit which had been keeping a low profile, had been activated after the release of its chief Maulana Azhar in exchange for hostages aboard the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in Kandhar. The group has a small number of members as compared to other outfits.

The intelligence sources said top political leaders and VVIPs were always on the hit-list of these militants and their agenda was first to blow up the Ayodhya shrine and, if successful, they were supposed to move to accomplish their next mission of eliminating political leaders.

They also wanted to kidnap some political leaders and VVIPs to pressurise the Government to release hardcore ultras lodged in Mumbai and Tihar jails, the sources added. (PTI)