Vajpayee rebuffs Mandela, rejects outside mediation in Kashmir
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today
outright rejected third-party involvement in the Jammu and Kashmir
issue, saying it is an ''integral part of India'' and the real
problem there is one of cross-border terrorism.
In a sharp rebuff to Non-Aligned Movement chairman Nelson Mandela's reference to
the Kashmir issue at the inaugural session of the 12th summit,
Vajpayee said the Shimla Agreement which both India and Pakistan
had ratified, provides an agreed mechanism for resolving these
differences amicably between the two countries.
"NAM is not the place to air the differences in some of our
positions,'' he said.
''Let me say this loud and clear: there is no place for third
party involvement in this process, howsoever well intentioned,''
Vajpayee asserted.
Allaying apprehensions in some quarters that recent developments in
South Asia raised the spectre of an arms race and heightened
tensions, the prime minister said. ''These apprehensions are
misplaced.''
''India continues to seek good relations with all its neighbours
and to work with them to build on our commonalities and shared
aspirations. Differences should be resolved in a rational manner,
peacefully and through bilateral negotiations,'' Vajpayee said.
Defending India's nuclear tests, he said the explosions took
place in a geo-political environment where our security was becoming
even more threatened by the overt and covert nuclearisation of our
neighbourhood. ''We do not, however, believe now, anymore than we
ever did before, that nuclear weapons are here to stay,'' he said.
He said India would be the first to join any negotiations for
abolition of nuclear weapons if the established nuclear weapon
states agree to it. He urged NAM to join India in negotiating a
nuclear weapons convention through which ''we can eliminate this
last category of weapons of mass destruction.''
He hoped that the nuclear weapons shall not cast their shadow
into the new millennium.
The prime minister said the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty could not
provide lasting and genuine solution to the problem of
proliferation. It is vital for the movement to renew its commitment
to goal of nuclear weapon free world and take advantage of the
environment.
On the issue of terrorism, Vajpayee said the scourge was
spreading its tentacles and knew no frontiers.
He flayed many countries of the world for remaining silent and
indifferent for reasons of political convenience on adopting a
united approach to eliminate this menace.
Terrorism is a plain and naked assault on humanity and the values
that the civilised societies live by. The battle against terrorism
cannot be fought by unilateral or selective actions. It calls for
concerted international efforts.
The time has come for an international conference to discuss and
agree on measures to combat and defeat this menace through
collective action, he said.
On restructuring of the United Nations, the prime minister said
the expansion and reforms of the Security Council should be based on
global and non-discriminatory criteria, the NAM and the developing
countries are most often the objects of the council's actions. They
must have a role in decision making in the council on the basis of
equality.
To meet the aspirations of its members, the NAM has to develop
the strength to translate its numbers into an effective voice in
international affairs. It has to regain lost ground in a changed
international environment.
Vajpayee said the international system in which the movement
must function remains beset with inequality and uncertainty.
Ethnic conflict continues in Europe as well as other parts of the
world. The Middle East peace process remains deadlocked. Religious
fundamentalism and terrorism daily claim innocent victims in many
parts of the world. Protectionism, currency speculations and flight
of capital have been a setback to the economies of many developing
countries, he said.
Pressures on developing countries have intensified as the new
architecture of the multilateral regime in trade, investment,
development and human rights shrunk the political space available
to the developing countries.
The prime minister said protectionism returned in the markets of the
developed world and trade and investments were being increasingly
used to promote political objectives on labour standards,
intellectual property rights, human rights and the environment.
These are defences thrown up against the recent successes of some
developing countries. These members of our movement have emerged in
the vanguard of the international growth, but other have not only
been economically marginalised by the globalisation, even it has
threatened the societies of many member countries.
He said the NAM's voice should be heard on this issue.
''Instead we have heard ad nauseam that we should trust the magic
of the marketplace. We have discovered the hard way that the
magic wears off fast. The marketplace has to be according to the
rules, which that country must determine as the only guardian of the
well being of the people,'' he said.
The prime minister said the developing countries were told the
global market place would be anarchic, subject to no control, a
place of mystery where the managers of investment funds could bring
down an economy, almost at whim.
The lesson that they have been asked to learn from the South East
Asian experience is that there must be firmer domestic controls on
financial institutions in developing countries but there is no
agenda set to bring international controls or accountability to the
international market place or to examine the systemic flaws of the
international financial and monetary system.
The prime minister also expressed concern at shrinking official
development assistance flows, especially those channelised through
multilateral organisations. An international conference on finance
for development, he said, is the need of the hour to correct the
situation.
He assured India's full cooperation to South Africa in
revitalising the NAM agenda. The movement should formulate a
focussed strategy to articulate the concerns of the developing
countries to address the challenges of 21st century. This would be
a crowning achievement for NAM and South Africa.
UNI
RELATED REPORTS:
Vajpayee protests Mandela's reference to Kashmir
Text of Vajpayee's speech
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