Citing U.S. Precedent, India Mulls Pre-Emptive Strike on Pakistan
April 2003
Craig Cox Utne.com
The Indian defense minister yesterday said the U.S. invasion of
Iraq provided a precedent for a pre-emptive strike on Pakistan.
Georges Fernandes told a meeting of war veterans in the northern
Indian city of Jodhpur that Pakistan was ?a prime case? for
pre-emptive invasion, but he stopped short of threatening such a
strike, reports Agence France Presse. ?There are enough reasons to
launch such strikes against Pakistan,? Fernandes said, ?but I
cannot make public statements on whatever action that may be
taken.?
The comment echoes the views of Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant
Sinha, who recently noted that his country had ?a much better case
for pre-emptive action against Pakistan than the United States has
in Iraq,? because Pakistan is known to have weapons of mass
destruction and harbors terrorists.
Fernandes? statement came only hours after Secretary of State
Colin Powell said the United States would work to cool tensions
between the two countries, which have fought three wars since
1947.
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