New Delhi: Former US President Bill Clinton has advocated the Irish model to resolve
the festering Kashmir problem and urged India and Pakistan to resume "direct talks".
"Kashmir can be resolved somewhat along the lines the problem in Northern Ireland
was sorted out," Clinton said while delivering keynote address at the 'India Today'
conclave via satellite on March 1 night.
For this, what need to be pursued were majority rule, ensuring minority rights and
a "self-government" with shared values, he said.
Observing that only India and Pakistan can solve the Kashmir imbroglio, Clinton
said "outsiders cannot resolve it".
He said politicians from both sides might want to keep the issue going. But in the
interest of the two countries, "sacrifices will have to be made and risks taken".
"I hope you (India and Pakistan) begin direct talks and keep trying working it out,"
Clinton stressed.
Well aware that Indians in India as well as in the US were enjoying the final stages
of the gripping World Cup one-dayer between India and Pakistan, Clinton delayed his
address by about 20 minutes. He too watched the winning runs scored by Rahul Dravid.
Former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan was among the guests witnessing the match
on big screens.
Noting that sectarian violence was a roadblock for India, Clinton said the Gujarat
violence was among the saddest things that had happened since he demitted office,
especially after he saw both Hindus and Muslims working together after the Gujarat
earthquake.
"To identify and categorise people based on faith will keep India from becoming the
right kind of giant in the 21st Century," Clinton said.
The former American President said his own experience revealed that the world
still "rewards" people who seek political power by "trading in religious, racial and
tribal differences".
Clinton said he had a sickening feeling when he heard about the Godhra incident and
Hindus being torched in a train and more so when "20 times more than that number
were killed in revenge".
He also spoke of reports, which said all those arrested under Prevention of
Terrorism Act (POTA) in Gujarat were Muslims. He also referred to reports of
Rashtreeya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pushing for introduction of a new history text
book.
Clinton, who later responded to questions from industrialists and Members of
Parliament (MPs), emphasised that the world could not afford India to be a "pygmy
but a global giant".
"You have to be a giant," he said while highlighting the importance of addressing
issues like communal strife and AIDS.
On the US turning a blind eye to Pakistan's support to cross-border terrorism in
Jammu and Kashmir, Clinton bluntly said politics in the sub-continent seemed more
focused on "yesterday's problems rather than tomorrow's promises".
He said both Indian and Pakistani immigrants were in the top 10 of the over 200
ethnic groups in the US, but regretted that in the sub-continent, they had a per
capital income of less than $ 600.
Stressing that outsiders cannot resolve problems between the two
nuclear-armed neighbours, Clinton said it would take a tremendous amount of
political will to overcome them.
This was so because "politicians on both sides of the line have more to gain
in the short run by keeping the problems festering than making them go
away", he said.
Referring to his comments that Kashmir was "the most dangerous place on
earth", Clinton justified it saying continuing tensions held out the
possibility of a conflict between the two nuclear weapon powers.
The four specific challenges confronting India were resolution of the
Kashmir problem, the issue of nuclear weapons, the mounting AIDS problem and
sectarian violence, he said.
While India will continue to grow economically, there was a need to address
these issues for it to emerge as the "right sort of 21st Century super
power", he said.
In his introductory remarks, Aroon Purie, editor-in-chief of 'India Today'
group, said Clinton's visit to India in March 2000 had resulted in a
significant breakthrough in Indo-US bilateral relations.
Among those present were External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha,
Information and Broadcast Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Labour Minister
Sahib Singh Verma and Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal.
PTI
