US Secretary of State Colin Powell signed off on Wednesday saying his country's war against terror included terrorism targetted at India.Addressing a joint press conference with external affairs minister Jaswant Singh at the end of his India visit, Powell said: "We deplore terrorism wherever it exists, whether on September 11 (referring to the terror attacks in the World Trade Centre in the US) or on October 1 in Srinagar." Thirty-eight people had been killed in a suicide bomb attack on the J&K assembly on October 1.
Powell said the US and India stood shoulder to shoulder fighting terrorism and "that includes the terrorism that has been inflicted on India."He also announced that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had accepted an invitation by President George Bush to visit Washington on November 9.Jaswant Singh, on his part, said that India has assured US of full cooperation in its action on Afghanistan. But it has also demanded that the US war against terrorism go beyond Afghanistan and address Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir, he said.
Powell, however, skirted the controversial issue of Pakistan's role in terror in Kashmir. Asked whether Pakistan should be included to be a member of the global coalition against terrorism, he merely said Pakistan had recognised the nature of the Taliban government and was working with the US to fight the Al Qaeda.The US secretary of state clarified that he had not said in Islamabad on Tuesday that Kashmir was 'the' central issue between India and Pakistan, but "a" central issue. He said the Kashmir issue must be resolved between India and Pakistan, but the US would be willing to help facilitate the talks.
Asserting that Kashmir was an integral to India's nationhood, minister Jaswant Singh admitted there were differences on the J&K issue between India and the US, but "we can disagree without being disagreeable."Stressing the need to improve relations with Pakistan, Singh quoted Vajpayee to say: "You can change friends but you can't change neighbours." India and Pakistan, he said, had to learn to live together and address the real enemy like poverty.
