Saturday, Jul 20, 2002
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By Sridhar Krishnaswami
"We are engaging with India on a wide range of issues. From counter- terrorism to security issues, climate change and commerce, to strengthening democracy and fighting HIV/AIDS, the President has looked to India as a partner,'' Ms. Rocca told the House of Representatives International Relations Sub-Committee on the Middle East and South Asia. The senior Bush administration official for South Asian affairs talked about the region, especially in the context of counter-terrorism, the situation between India and Pakistan and about every country in that part of the world. "... Our relationships with South Asian states have been central to our successful prosecution of the war on terrorism. All have been fully supportive, and their support in this war has been, and will continue to be absolutely crucial,'' Ms. Rocca told the House panel. On India, Ms. Rocca talked of the all-encompassing nature of the bilateral relationship — military, economic, counter-terrorism and law enforcement. "We are working ever more closely with India on military cooperation. Our military forces are now actively developing the capability to work together effectively through joint exercises, planning and senior-level visits,'' Ms. Rocca said making the point that within the framework of the Defence Planning Group, the U.S. and India were discussing technology and research and development cooperation, sales and licensing issues and peacekeeping operations. "U.S.-India counter-terrorism cooperation is rapidly maturing. It has contributed to the arrest of many terrorists around the world... Our cooperation includes intelligence sharing, training, counter-terrorism, finance and money laundering, improving border security, combating cyber terrorism and providing mutual legal assistance. Our joint diplomatic efforts against terrorism have been unprecedented in our relationship,'' Ms. Rocca argued. Non-proliferation, she said, remained an item on the bilateral agenda which would be addressed through cooperation and mutual understanding. The cooperative aspects in this area aside, Ms. Rocca expressed confidence that the Government of India shared the U.S. concerns on the spread of sensitive technologies of weapons of mass destruction and missiles that posed a security risk to both countries. The prepared statement of Ms. Rocca apart, at least two members of Congress raised the Kashmir issue and wanted to know what the administration had done to raise the concern about "Hindu extremists" in India. "... The entire issue of Gujarat is one that has been of great concern to us. It is one we have been following very closely... Our officers have gone down to monitor the situation themselves. It will figure highly in our religious freedom report,'' she said. Ms. Rocca was asked whether the administration considered coming up with a plan for Kashmir in the same fashion as it had come up for West Asia. "Our position on this is that no outside Government can impose any peace plan on the two nations involved. The two nations involved need to get together and talk about it themselves. They need to work this out. It's not something that can be super-imposed from the outside by any nation. We are working, however, to get both sides to the table, and we have made it clear to both sides that we don't think it can be resolved without dialogue,'' she responded. She argued that the current situation would have to be defused first before a discussion of all issues including Kashmir.'' ... the current crisis needs to be defused first. India has said that when there is a peaceful situation, they are willing to talk about all issues, including Kashmir,'' Ms. Rocca told the Republican Congressman Joseph Pitts.
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