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P Jayaram in New Delhi
An Israeli parliamentarian on Friday warned about the possibility of terrorists gaining control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and using it to "destroy three countries" -- India, Israel and the United States.
"If there is a coup in Pakistan and terrorists get hold of their nuclear weapons, they will use them to destroy three countries -- you, us and the US," Joseph Lapid, a member of an Israeli parliamentary team presently visiting India, said.
Lapid told the media that the September 11 attacks had demonstrated what the terrorists were capable of.
"If you don't take terrorism seriously, then it will be too late. Today, they are using only knives and planes, tomorrow they will have chemical and nuclear weapons," he said.
The four-member team arrived in New Delhi after what team leader Amnon Rubinstein described as an "unforgettable visit" to Cochin, Kerala.
"We want to go back," he said, adding that the interaction with the small, local Jewish community was memorable, just as a cruise in Kerala's backwaters was "out of this world".
Many shopkeepers in Cochin's Jew Street spoke to them in Hebrew and "we were very moved", he said.
The team, on a weeklong visit to India at the invitation of Parliament to mark the 10th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, called on Vice President Krishan Kant, Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi, Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Krishna Bose, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs, and leader of opposition Sonia Gandhi.
Responding to a series of questions on Jammu and Kashmir, Nawaf Mazalha, an Arab and a former deputy speaker of Knesset (Israeli parliament), said it was not correct to compare the violence in the state with the Palestinian agitation against Israel.
"Kashmir is an Indian state and what is happening there is part of an attempt by somebody to split it. In Israel, it is not the same problem. They (Palestinians) want independence; we are saying they can't do it by terrorism," he said.
Indo-Asian News Service
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