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| Powell: Campaign Against Terrorism Includes Terrorism Against India |
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WED, OCT 17, 2001
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Visiting United States Secretary of States Colin Powell said here on Wednesday that on-going fight led by the United States against terrorism included terrorist activities directed against India.
"I assure that the international coalition's efforts to fight terrorism includes terrorism directed against India as well," Powell said at a joint press conference with Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh after the conclusion of his visit to New Delhi.
Powell told the media that the focus of the U.S.-led international coalition against terrorism was to "eradicate" the al-Qaida network of Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect of the terrorist strikes in New York and Washington on September 11, and to ensure that Afghanistan was no more a safe haven for terrorists.
"We (U.S. and India) should stand by shoulder in the fight against terrorism," he said, adding that Washington deplored terrorism "wherever it exists, whether on September 11 or October in Srinagar," capital of India-controlled Kashmir.
In an apparent attempt to mollify New Delhi, Powell said Kashmir is "a central" issue between India and Pakistan which should be resolved through dialogue between the two neighbors.
On Tuesday, before he arrived in India, Powell said in Islamabad following his talks with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that Kashmir "is central" to the relationship between India and Pakistan.
The U.S. official announced Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had accepted an invitation by United States President George W. Bush to visit Washington beginning from November 9.
"We know the prime minister is coming to the United States for the United Nations General Assembly in November and my president has extended an invitation to him to come to Washington on November 9," he said.
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