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Gujral says India should coordinate anti-Taliban measures with other nations

Former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral has criticised the Centre for not taking ''credible'' steps to counter growing threats from the Taliban and urged the Vajpayee government to evolve a joint strategy with Central Asian countries and Russia to check the terrorist activities of the Afghan militia.

Observing that the Taliban threat had further deepened tension in the subcontinent, Gujral called upon the Centre to work out a ''coordinated response'' with Iran and other Central Asian countries besides Moscow, as an effective measure.

''Our foreign policy is already facing lack of credibility since the recent Pokhran blasts. The Taliban militia has become an added threat at this juncture, and it demands a cohesive effort to counter the menace,'' he said, while addressing a press conference in Jalandhar.

Pointing out that even Pakistan was not free from this threat, Gujral, who was also former external affairs minister, wondered why New Delhi was not utilising this as an ideal time to warm up relations with Islamabad. ''The Indian government has not taken credible steps -- diplomatically or otherwise -- to invoke a friendly feeling among its neighbours, particularly Pakistan, to fight against a common enemy,'' he lamented, adding that the BJP-led government had instead developed a hawkish attitude, thereby disturbing relations with some of them.

Referring to Bangladesh, Gujral said the recent discovery of natural gas in that country had given New Delhi an opportunity to boost economic ties with Dhaka. ''It is the time for us to send experts to drill wells and lay pipes there, instead we are busy deporting Bangladeshi nationals from here,'' he said.

Asked whether he felt that the present government had turned the famed Gujral Doctrine upside down, the former prime minister quipped, ''If they (the government) feel worried over the association of my name to it, they should drop it. But constructive dialogues with foreign countries should certainly continue.''

Gujral endorsed the recent retaliatory strikes by the United States against the Afghan militia, but in the same breath urged the Centre not to succumb to Washington's pressure to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Observing that signing the CTBT would lead to India's alienation from many countries, he said, ''We (India) should consult non-aligned countries on this, particularly in the present context when last week's Durban summit endorsed New Delhi's stand on denuclearisation.''

The Janata Dal leader, however, regretted that the ruling BJP did not take the Opposition into confidence on the country's nuclear policy and thus failed to form a national consensus on this.

Asked if the recent statement on Kashmir by the NAM chairman and United Nations secretary-general amounted to failure of the Vajpayee government's policy on the issue, Gujral replied in the affirmative and added that what had been kept within the country had now been internationalised.

Referring to the Taliban threat in other parts of the world, Gujral said he, as a member of United Nations Eminent Members Group, found that Taliban-sponsored terrorists had killed nearly 60,000 people in Algeria.

The six-member EMG, which extensively toured the African country for almost three weeks to prepare a report which would be submitted to the UN secretary-general next week, found that Taliban terrorists were playing havoc with its security. ''Most of the terrorist victims had been butchered by those known as 'Afghan Algerians' (called Afghan Mujahideen during the anti-Soviet struggle in Afghanistan),'' he added.

Gujral said the SAARC summit in Colombo had given a signal to make South Asia a free trade zone by 2001 but the Indian government meanwhile should accelerate efforts to boost free trade bilaterally with SAARC member nations.

UNI

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