India's Relations with South Asia and the Muslim World (Relevant Extracts)

South Asia

.. South Asia is a region of tremendous opportunities as well as of continuing challenges of human development, peace and security. The use of terrorism as an instrument of State policy by Pakistan, residual reservations about greater economic intercourse and integration, the inability of democracy to take root in some societies as well as untenable territorial claims tend to set unnecessary brakes to the processes of economic and social development in the region ... In the historic initiative of the bus journey to Lahore, in furthering communication links with Bangladesh ... and in intensifying economic cooperation with ... Maldives, India continued in taking the lead in developing greater cooperation with all its neighbours ..

Regional cooperation, particularly economic cooperation under the SAARC framework, gained momentum in the first half of the year ... The quickening of the pace of economic cooperation constitutes a major advance for SAARC and is expected to contribute to the operationalisation of the SAARC Free Trade Area ...

However, events in the second half of the year cast a shadow over the gathering momentum in regional cooperation. The military coup in Pakistan on October 12, 1999 necessitated postponement of the 11t SAARC Summit...

Bangladesh

India continued to pursue a policy of further expanding and deepening its traditionally close and friendly ties with Bangladesh. There was a regular exchange of high-level visits which contributed to the promotion of mutual understanding and goodwill, with an emphasis on economic cooperation.

Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, accompanied by a delegation which included the External Affairs Minister, Minister for Railways and Surface Transport and the Chief Minister of West Bengal, visited Dhaka on 19 and 20 June, 1999 on the occasion of the inaugural run of the bus service from Calcutta to Dhaka ...

Maldives

India-Maldives relations have been close and friendly. India attaches the highest importance to its relations with the Maldives and is committed to cooperate with the Maldives in its developmental efforts especially in the human resource development and health sectors. During the year 1999, a number of visits were exchanged between the two countries to strengthen cooperation in various areas including medicine, meteorology and customs cooperation.

A tripartite agreement between India, Maldives and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was signed on 22.12.1999, under which IGNOU will launch distance education programmes in the Maldives. Another tripartite agreement between India, Maldives and Educational Consultants India Limited has been signed to facilitate tailor-made courses in India for Maldivian students.

Pakistan

Pakistan, by its premeditated aggression and armed intrusion in the Kargil sector of Jammu & Kashmir, shattered our endeavour to take India-Pakistan relations in a positive direction, as witnessed by the first round of the composite dialogue process in October-November, 1998 which was followed by the historic initiative of the Prime Minister to visit Lahore in February, 1999 ... The Prime Minister's meeting in Lahore was followed by a meeting between the External Affairs Minister and the Foreign Minister of Pakistan in Nuwara Eliya (Sri Lanka) on 19 March, 1999, on the margins of the SAARC Ministerial meeting, where they agreed on a detailed programme of bilateral contacts ... All these initiatives by India were, however, negated by Pakistan's action in Kargil which revealed its abiding hostility towards us.

Pakistan's intrusion across the LOC was a well-planned operation involving both Pakistan Army regulars as well as highly trained, well-armed and motivated mercenaries under the management and control of the Pakistan Army ... Operation Vijay was begun on 26 May, 1999 with the objective of completely evicting Pakistan's armed intrusion and aggression ... Our position found virtually universal approbation and Pakistan was held as having violated the LOC and its efforts at terming it imprecise also failed. Throughout its military operation,

India ... scrupulously observed the sanctity of the LOC ... Pakistan's aggression and intrusion across the LOC in Kargil constituted betrayal of trust and revealed their abiding hostility ... The damage this action has done to relations is further compounded by Pakistan's continuing and stepped up sponsorship of terrorism against India as a matter of state policy. The hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft to Kandahar was an example of international terrorism at its worst. There is firm evidence that it was engineered by Pakistan and fundamentalist groups based in Pakistan and outside under its command and control.

The military coup of 12 October, 1999 brought further security concerns ... Our basic policy approaches towards Pakistan remain ... Pakistan needs to create the right environment in order to restore mutual trust and confidence through concrete and tangible action.

Afghanistan

India remains deeply concerned with the situation in Afghanistan ... The continuing civil conflict ... was closely monitored ... We continued to support the efforts ul the UN to bring peace to Afghanistan ... The role played hy the Taliban during the (hijacking) crisis was noted but We made it clear that the fundamentals of our Afghan Juley would not change.

Iran

India's multifaceted relations with Iran continued to uow. The External Affairs Minister had a fruitful meeting with the Iranian Foreign Minister at New York on 23 September, 1999 while Foreign Secretary also paid a visit in Tehran from 31 July - 1 August, 1999 to review with the Iranian counterpart all bilateral, political, commercial, economic, technical, and consular cooperation ...

Central Asia

India's relations with the Central Asian State (CAS) continued to be excellent ... marked by regular high-level mint acts ... In the economic sphere transitional difficulties in the CAS, has had a negative impact on two-way trade, which remains modest. Interactions in the cultural sphere continued to be strong ....

India deeply values its close historical ties and traditional cultural affinities with the Gulf countries ... The warm and cordial relations between India and Bahrain were further strengthened and diversified. India's Traditional ties with Iraq witnessed an upswing during the year particularly in the economic field ... An exchange of vits by prominent leaders marked the warmth and looseness that exists between India and Kuwait. Defence yboperation, the signing of the extradition treaty ... with Oman gave a boost to our ... ties ... India's relations with Naudi Arabia grew steadily, with the latter showing uderstanding of India's viewpoint on a number of issues.

The visit of External Affairs Minister in April 1999 to WAE provided an opportunity to both sides to discuss Ilsues of mutual interest and stress the importance of joint «orts to maintain security and stability in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean ...

Palestine

India maintains that the Palestinian issue continues 10 remain the underlying cause of conflict in the region. India has continued to support the realization of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the region, based on relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the Principle of "Land for Peace" ... , In the spirit of south-South cooperation, India has continued to provide support to the countries of this region, under India's Technical and Economic Cooperation and Indian Council for Cultural Relations programmes ...

On International Terrorism

The phenomena of international terrorism was an important area of attention in the UN during the year with the Sixth Committee of the UNGA adopting the resolution on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism in November 1999 and the UNSC also adopting a resolution in October 1999 condemning all acts of terrorism and calling upon all States to combat terrorism in all its forms ..

Cultural Relations

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) effectively continued its activities through_the continued implementation of its scholarship programs ... through its 14 Cultural Centres abroad, deputation of Visiting Professors. in Indian languages and related subjects, organisation of various seminars, etc., sponsoring visits to and from India of leading performing artistes and cultural groups, facilitating exchange of eminent persons in all fields under its Distinguished Visitor's Program and organising various exhibitions ...