Opposition BJP Condemns U.S. Policy In Afghanistan, Pakistan
Dated 22/1/2008
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India should wake up to the consequences of the "disastrous policy" being pursued by the US in Pakistan and Afghanistan, former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said on Tuesday.
"The US policy in this region is a policy of disaster and it is necessary for the government of India to recognize this", he told reporters on the sidelines of an international seminar on Economic and Strategic Relations among India, China and US.
"(The) US has absolutely no options left in Pakistan, but to continue to support the regime of President Musharraf. Despite all the disturbances taking place and despite all verbal statements US makes on democracy, they have failed to carry conviction", Singh said.
On Indo-China relations, he said there was "deficit of understanding and surplus of suspicion". We must move forward "realistically, purposefully in national interest", he said.
Asked about the future of Sino Indian relations, he said it was a very 'challenging' demand on India. "We should not repeat the mistakes that we earlier made in the 1950's and 60s and subsequently", he said.
Singh said he was an army captain during the 1962 Indo-China war and was serving in the north-east. "It is very humiliating for an army personnel to suffer defeat", he said.
Pointing out that he does not see any trilateral relationship between India, China and the US, Singh said relation between India and China will have "competitive cooperation". "That China or India will give up competing with each other cannot be believed", he said.
Asked if the recent visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had helped in building up trust between the two nations, he said: "I have no faith in statements being made. They are mostly 'hagiographical than realistic'.
There is no consistency in the US's policy in the south Asian region, he said.
