Summary of Press Briefing by the Official Spokesperson and Brig. Jaspaul singh
October 22, 2001
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October 22, 2001
A press release was issued on the Prime Minister’s congratulatory message to the Scientists and Engineers involved in the successful launch of PSLV.
In response to questions the Spokesperson and Brig. Singh said the following:
- Asked about the situation regarding Hindus in Bangladesh, the Spokesperson said that our High Commissioner in Bangladesh Shri M.L. Tripathi called on the Bangladesh Minister of State for Religious Affairs Mr. Musharraf Hussain Shahjahan and during the course of discussions this issue had come up and our High Commissioner was assured that the Government of Bangladesh is fully seized of this matter and was determined to take action against the miscreants involved.
- The Prime Minister of Bangladesh had addressed a letter to our Prime Minister on October 21,2001 thanking Prime Minister for his warm felicitations on her assumption of office as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She had expressed her full agreement with the Prime Minister that the bonds of friendship between India and Bangladesh and the two people are deeply rooted in our shared history and cultural affinities. She had expressed the commitment of her government to further strengthening the existing cordial relations both in depth and dimension and she had said that she was looking forward to working with Prime Minister Vajpayee closely for the mutual benefit of the peoples of India and Bangladesh. She had also thanked the Prime Minister for his cordial invitation and said she looked forward to visiting India in the near future.
- Asked to confirm about the media reports that Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf are likely to meet in New York on the sidelines of UNGA, the Spokesperson said that we do not have any information regarding the holding of such meeting.
- Asked to comment about the presence of American troops in Pakistan, the Spokesperson said that we did not have any confirmation from the US Administration in this regard and we did not want to comment on media reports. The focus, however, was the war against terrorism which introduced a new dimension into previously determined positions on such issues.
- Asked to confirm about the report that Afghan tribals had captured 30 journalists, the Spokesperson said that we had tried to ascertain the veracity of this report. Our information was that the report was not correct.
- Asked to comment about the post conflict situation in Afghanistan, the Spokesperson said that when India’s view on the subject was being shared with the international community. This issue would have to involve consultations with the Afghan people themselves, and the structure of the settlement that is established in Afghanistan, post conflict would have to be broad-based, fully representative and multi-ethnic. The scenario was still in the process of being evolved.
- Asked to give details on the attacks on the airfield at Avantipur in J&K, Brig. Singh said that at about 13.50 hrs on October 22, 2001 a light vehicle, tried to barge in through the main gate of Avantipur airfield. This was resisted by a non-combatant person at the gate who was shot at. An alert BSF guard on duty swiftly reacted and shot all the five terrorists involved. The vehicle was still there and investigations were still on to establish whether there were any explosives in the vehicle.
- Asked to give details of the Defence Minister’s visit to Siachen and Turtuk, Brig. Singh said that he had nothing to offer in this regard.
- Asked to comment on the Chinese position on the military operation in Afghanistan, the Chinese had said that military operation should be short and finite. She added that as far the military operation is concerned we all agree that it has certain aims and certain targets and certain goals to fulfil. It is our understanding that the United States is moving towards the fulfillment of those goals. We would like to see that these goals are reached as soon as possible. A campaign of this nature would necessarily have to include in the long run various facets. We were talking that a global campaign against terrorism that has to include military, political, financial, economic, diplomatic and intelligence aspects, and the covert and the overt as the American had also stated. There were many dimensions to this conflict.
- Commenting on the statement made by the APEC leaders on counter-terrorism in Shanghai, the Spokesperson said that it is a comprehensive, broad statement on the nature of the campaign we have to undertake against terrorism with international involvement. India was in agreement with the views expressed in the APEC statement.
- Asked to comment about the situation at the LoC, Brig. Singh said that the situation was normal and routine in nature. There was no untoward incident and as far as infiltration is concerned as we have stated many times it continues.
- Asked to confirm about the report that 600 Lashkar-e-Toiba militants have left J&K for Afghanistan, Brig. Singh said that there was one report of such kind, but the ground situation has not shown anything towards that. We had no report to support that these militants have left. The Spokesperson added that we must recognise the fact that there are close and continuing linkages between such groups and their mentors in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is a constant flow of communication between them.
- Asked to comment about Washington Post report that India could attack Pakistan nuclear installation, the Spokesperson said that the need was to focus on nuclear confidence building between the two countries. India had made a proposal prior to the Agra Summit for the resumption of talks between officials of the two sides and at the experts level on nuclear confidence building in the spirit of the MoU signed by the two Foreign Secretaries at Lahore and that is the direction in which we would like to see the whole process of building peace and stability in our region. That is our approach.
- Asked to give details of the ground situation in Afghanistan, Brig. Singh said that fighting continues. But there has been no change on the ground situation.
Press Briefing
Ministry Of External Affairs, India
