Press statement issued by BJP National Spokesperson, Shri Tarun Vijay

Monday, 22 March 2010

US must ensure India its billions to
Pakistan do not fall in the hands of anti India terror groups

American funding of Pakistan has gone on unabated during Obama’s presidency. All this has gone on without any attempt on the part of US administration to allay our genuine fears that these funds often are siphoned off for anti-India activities by terror groups. And now, instead of reassuring us that this would not happen, comes the highly disturbing news that on the eve of the Nuclear Security Summit to be hosted by President Obama in Washington DC on April 12 and 13, the so called civil nuclear deal that US has inked with India may be inked with Pakistan too.

The US funding of Pakistan is simply mind-boggling. I quote a report from The Guardian, “February 3, 2010 by Delcan Walsh. The Guardian/UK- President Obama's public aid to Pakistan is transparent: $1.5bn a year for the next five years, mainly to boost the civilian government. But behind the scenes the US is engaged in other ways. Over the past decade it has given over $12bn in cash directly to the military to subsidize the costs of fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida. The program to train the Frontier Corps, which the killed soldiers were involved with, is estimated to be worth $400m more over several years.’

It’s therefore imperative for India, surrounded by two hostile nuclear powers, to demand that US must assure India that its billions will not, in any situation whatsoever, fall in the hands of terror groups working against us. We need a fool-proof mechanism to get convinced of US monitoring of its aide to Islamabad.

Pakistan has a history of facilitating terrorist groups using US dollars, as has been widely reported by the American officials. It is no secret to even the Americans that the US help to Afghan Taliban is being diverted to groups inimical to India. The neighbour with a nuke and being run by a number of ‘state’ and ‘non sate’ players is a potential threat to India’s security and regional peace. To strengthen it with billions on any pretext must necessarily raise our levels of concern. US has a responsibility to assure India about the tight monitoring of its billions to a fluid state like Pakistan and assure regular report to us on it.

If US let down India on Headley case, South ‘sharm el shaikh' Block too has let Indians down by its sheer lackadaisical attitude on security and war on terror. US has never concerned itself with addressing Pakistan’s support to terror groups against India, while solely concentrating on the western front. US duplicity in its war against terror is in fact making India more vulnerable to Pakistan based and state supported terror groups. But ultimately it’s our war, and Obama is the President of his country. Why should we be playing second fiddle to US interests? The proposed Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010, (CLNDB) is another example of Indian rulers working against Indian interests under US pressure.

US admit that Pakistan is an unreliable nuclear state, which has been in the forefront of nuclear proliferation and is vulnerable to nuclear pilferage by ‘non-state actors.’ Still Pakistan continues to play ‘help me to help you’ card using Taliban to garner billions from Washington.

We only hope that Dr. Manmohan Singh’s Washington visit in April to attend the above mentioned summit doesn’t create scene of another shameful yielding to the foreign pressure like we saw in Sharm el Sheikh that was later nauseatingly visible in the India-Pakistan foreign secretary level talks.

To give an example of the vacillating South Block’s ‘I don’t know what’s in my mind’ governance, marked with the counting of body bags of civilians and soldiers without a firm policy on Qasabs and Afzals, here are some ‘gems’ from the ruling coalition leaders about Pakistan. Just match them with their deeds and talks and one wonders what kind of this absent minded governance is all about which publishes the pictures of Pakistan Air chief and Delhi in Pakistan on official government advertisements.

Selective approach not acceptable-“We should not harbour any illusions that a selective approach to terrorism, tackling it in one place while ignoring it in others, will work,” he said.( Dr.Manmohan Singh, at WASHINGTON – Nov 23, 2009. In an address to the Council On Foreign Relations (CFR), a leading US think-tank.

Needed a cast iron guarantee Jan 04, 2009 at New Delhi Chidambaram said:.
"What we now want is cast iron guarantees that no state actors or non-state ones will be allowed to use Pakistani soil or sources to launch an attack on India”, Home Minister P Chidambaram said.

"Guarantees have to come from those who control the levers of power and that means, the elected civilian government, plus the army. These are not guarantees that you can execute on a piece of paper. These are guarantees that have to be given to the international community," he told a television news channel.

Epicenter of terrorism Feb 23, 2010: Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram termed Pakistan as the epicenter of terrorism in the world, and said Islamabad has been forced by the Indian policy to admit that its soil was being used for terrorist attacks on India.
"Pakistan is the epicenter of terrorism. Our policy has forced Pakistan to admit that its soil was being used for terrorist attacks on India.

No meaning full dialogue--- a video appearance, MEA SM Krishna , in no uncertain terms said; " Meaningful dialogue with Pakistan [is]impossible unless Pakistan stops cross-border terrorism", "Pakistan is not prosecuting even terrorists against whom all evidence is available"

(Shyam Jaju)
Headquarter Incharge