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| India-Pakistan |
| Musharraf's exit may give militants more freedom: India |
| 2008-08-13 |
| India is concerned that impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf may leave a "big vacuum" that will give freedom to radical extremist elements to do "what they like in this country". In the first significant comments by anyone from the Indian government on the imminent impeachment process in Pakistan, India's National Security Adviser MK Narayanan said it is the political vacuum that exists there that "greatly worries us". In an interview to Singapore daily The Straits Times, he said it was not important for India whether Musharraf was impeached or not. "But it leaves a big vacuum and we are deeply concerned about this vacuum because it leaves the radical extremist outfits with freedom to do what they like, not merely on the Pak-Afghan border but clearly on our side of the border too," Narayanan said. "Like nature abhors a vacuum, we abhor the political vacuum that exists in Pakistan. It greatly worries us," he said. Maintaining that the situation was evolving in a manner that nobody could quite reach a conclusion, Narayanan said India thought Musharraf's impeachment might not take place. "And if at all he has to go, he will be allowed to go in grace and some sort of a compromise would be reached. Obviously that is not happening. Nawaz Sharif is very angry and there is no doubt about it," he said. He said a large number of people in the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) were unhappy about former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination and most of them Narayanan said India would not abandon Afghanistan in the wake of the attack on its mission in Kabul saying New Delhi and the rest of the world were not prepared for it. India would "strengthen security very substantially" for its mission in Kabul, he said. "Quite obviously Pakistan wishes to be the only country in Afghanistan so it can have Afghanistan as its client state," he said. He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had made it extremely clear to Pakistan at the recent SAARC summit in Colombo without raising his voice that "it could not be business as usual". "I think the message went home. Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani got the message." Coming from Dr Singh, it had the "most devastating effect," he said. The security adviser noted that one had to wait and see what Gilani could deliver. He said India was maintaining and would like to emphasise the importance of the composite dialogue. |
| Posted by:Fred |