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India and Pakistan share common enemy: Rice

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday described the relationship between Pakistan and India as different from what it was a number of years ago, while stressing that “they share a common enemy, because extremists in any form are obviously a threat to the Pakistanis as well as to the Indians”.

Speaking to journalists while flying to London, from where she will depart for New Delhi on Wednesday, Rice said the US has maintained very close contact with Britain and co-operated very closely on issues concerning Pakistan and India. She added that it is fortuitous she is going to be in London for these discussions.

She said President Bush had asked her to go to India to express “our sympathies with and our solidarity with the Indian people, and to express our absolute determination to help in any way that we can to help end this terrorist threat and to bring those who perpetrated this horrible crime to justice.”

Asked whether in her view the Pakistani government was involved, given the sole surviving militant’s reported statement that he was trained in Pakistan and was part of one of the two main Pakistani Muslim militant groups, Rice answered, “Well, what we’re emphasising to the Pakistani government is the need to follow the evidence wherever it leads, and to do that in the most committed and firmest possible way. And I’ve spoken with President Zardari. I’ve spoken with (Indian) Foreign Minister Mukherjee. (US National Security Adviser) Steve Hadley has spoken with his counterpart. And on all scores, the Pakistanis have emphasised their desire to get to the bottom of this and to help in any way that they can. And so I don’t want to jump to any conclusions myself on this, but I do think that this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and co-operation. And that’s what we expect.”

Rice said, in reply to another question, that Washington has already had very good co-operation with India, and a number of US government agencies are helping support the investigation in any way they can. She added that the US has been concerned about this for some time, the embassy bombing in Kabul being the reason for concern and it would help in any way it can. “In terms of Pakistan, again, the Pakistani government has said that it will be co-operating, it wants to co-operate, and that it’s prepared to follow the leads wherever they go. And that’s what we expect,” she added.

Asked if Pakistan should send its head of intelligence to India as it was at first scheduled, and then abandoned, Rice answered that this is a decision for the Pakistani government to make. She added, “But I do think that it is extremely important that there be the highest levels of co-operation between Pakistan and India at this point, and that means all institutions. And I assume that there is going to be law enforcement co-operation as well as intelligence co-operation in getting to the bottom of this.”

Asked if she was concerned that this could escalate Pakistan-India tensions to the point of actual conflict, Rice’s answer was, “Well, I’d just note that the lines of communication are open between them; that when I speak with the Indians, they talk about the very good initial statements from the Pakistani government. They have talked on the telephone. This is a different relationship than it was a number of years ago. Obviously, they share a common enemy, because extremists in any form are obviously a threat to the Pakistanis as well as to the Indians. So this obviously is a difficult task for this new Pakistani government. It’s still early in the civilian government’s existence. But in speaking with President Zardari and in speaking with the foreign minister, they know that this is a time to step up to the task that they’ve got.”

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