NEW DELHI: India Thursday told the New Delhi based Arab ambassadors that it will not under any circumstance allow secessionist movements to succeed in Kashmir, whatever be the cost or sacrifice, PTI reports,
External affairs minister Inder Kumar Gujral, told a meeting of Arab ambassadors that while India was committed to creating a climate of trust and cooperation in the region, the message he received from the visiting Pakistan foreign minister, Sahabzada Yaqub Khan was “not exactly peaceful.”
“In fact, it was very disconcerting,” Gujral added.
Briefing newsmen about the meeting, an external affairs ministry spokesman said Gujral underlined the composite entity of the country and praised the contribution made by Islam to this entity.
Gujral emphasized that it was not at all correct to view the Kashmir problem in religious terms.
“By far a greater number of Muslims lived outside Kashmir than in the valley. It was therefore a matter of dejection and sadness that an attempt to invoke the concerns of the Muslim Ummah (community) was being made regarding the events in Kashmir,” Gujral told the envoys.
The National Front government, he said, was determined to deal effectively with the social problems in Kashmir.
“Outside intervention or interference compounded the problems,” he said.
Gujral told the diplomats that the attention of Sahabzada Yaqub Khan had been drawn to the fact that India was “united and the entire nation would under no circumstance allow secessionist movements to succeed whatever be the cost or sacrifice.”
“Secularism is a matter of faith with the new government and it had never played nor will ever play communal politics,” he affirmed.
During the day, Gujral also held discussions with the visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for internal security affairs, Henry S. Rowen, Chief Editor of Al Baath, the official organ of Syria and hosted a lunch for ambassadors of EEC.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 2, 1990
