Terror export still a threat to India: PM

Army foils infiltration bid in Kashmir, 15 killed

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the new Asian-African strategic partnership declaration to be signed at the Asian-African summit in Jakarta would be a "forward looking framework" for countries engaging with each other in the two continents, but also flagged familiar concerns: that infiltration and terrorism continued to be worrying issues.

Speaking to reporters just before leaving for Jakarta to attend the anniversary of the Bandung conference the Prime Minister said days after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's visit to India infiltration remained a threat India had to continually be alive to.

He, however, warned that the peace process could be threatened by terrorism which has "not been fully controlled" yet. This is the second time in two days the Prime Minister has raised this issue.

In a statement in Parliament just two days ago, he said while there had been many positive outcomes of Musharraf's visit, on the infiltration score, India could not afford to be sanguine.

The Prime Minister's repeated reference to infiltration is based on information provided by the Army stationed on the Line of Control (LoC).

Just last evening, the Army killed 15 people trying to cross the LoC from Pakistan. These killings were on both sides of the Pir Panjal, setting at rest any doubts that they might be shepherds or persons who had innocently strayed across the border.

Top sources in the Army said this had been the pattern through much of March and April 2005""70 infiltrators had been caught trying to cross over.

What has aided the high rate of engagement and elimination of infiltrators has been the fence erected across the LoC; and tip-offs by locals, indicating that the local people were now trying to flush militants out from their midst.

During the whole of March, just one soldier had been killed during counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir, indicating the high degree of success the forces have achieved in checking infiltration.

This strengthens the Hurriyat Conference's argument that human rights violations have not stopped in Kashmir, but also nails Musharraf's earlier assertions that "nothing was going on across the border".

India told the visiting Pakistan President again that infiltration from Pakistan to Kashmir had to stop.

At the press conference today, his stress was on achieving a broader unity of old friends of India.

"We will sign a declaration on a new Asian-African strategic partnership renewing and reaffirming our commitment to the values enshrined in the original Bandung conference," he said.

Leaders of 106 Asian and African nations were expected to participate in the summit which was intended to reinvigorate spirit of Bandung as enshrined in the final communique of the Asian-African conference held there in 1955. April 24 marks the golden jubilee of the Bandung conference.

He said the partnership declaration would emphasise the need to promote practical co-operation between the two continents in areas such as trade, industry, investment, finance, tourism, information and communication technology, energy, health, transportation, agriculture, water resources and fisheries.

"This (the golden jubilee) is an event of great significance as India was one of the original sponsors of the 1955 Bandung conference and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru personally played a leading role in its organisation and success," he said.

During his stay in Jakarta, Singh said he was expected to meet leaders from China, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia to renew bilateral contacts.