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Armitage to visit India, Pak. again before polls

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JUNE 26. The United States Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, has said that it is important that the coming State Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are free of violence and "judged to be free and fair by the international community.''

Mr. Armitage, whose recent visit to India and Pakistan helped de-escalate the tension in the region, said that he planned to visit the two countries again ahead of the Assembly elections in Kashmir and the national elections in Pakistan.

Though no date has been fixed, he indicated that the visit might take place in August.

In an interview to The Financial Times in Washington, Mr. Armitage said the U.S. had no plans to "mediate'' on the Kashmir issue "right now'' but, significantly, added: "I don't want to rule anything in or out.''

The U.S. would continue to remain engaged in behind-the-scenes efforts to "inspire'' a settlement of the Kashmir dispute. "The United States is going to stay involved and I trust our good friends from Britain are (involved) as well,'' he said.

Mr. Armitage, who extracted a promise from the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, that he would put a "permanent'' end to cross-border terrorism across the Line of Control, said that there were signs that infiltration had fallen sharply in the recent weeks. But he warned that the Al-Qaeda could still be active in Kashmir — Washington had "snippets'' of information that it could be operating in the region.

``It's quite clear that the Al-Qaeda likes to fish in troubled waters such as Kashmir and that it would like nothing better than a splendid war between India and Pakistan.''

Mr. Armitage expressed concern over the "spectacle'' of almost a million men "shouting and shooting across the disputed area.''

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