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'U.S. believes Musharraf is man of his word'

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington Aug. 31. In spite of the violence in Jammu and Kashmir and India's scepticism on the commitments made by the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, the United States has said that it retains the confidence in the Pakistani leader to curb infiltration.

"...We do believe President Musharraf is a man of his word and we're going to treat him as such and treat his word with all the care which it deserves. Only President Musharraf and his colleagues know for sure, but we think that he is exerting some efforts," said the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, in an interview to PBS's News Hour.

He was asked if was is right in saying that Gen. Musharraf essentially broke his word he gave the Deputy Secretary this June that there would be a permanent end to cross-border incursions.

"...President Musharraf, again, reiterated to me that his comment about stopping activities across the Line of Control was still valid. There'd been nothing changed on that. I think both India and Pakistan recognise that there are certain infiltrations across the Line of Control that no Pakistani President could control," he said.

The senior Bush administration official maintained that India was correct on the assessment that cross-border incursions abated somewhat after June but that it was now back on the upsurge. But Mr. Armitage qualified his statement by saying that this upsurge was below seasonal annual highs. "Yes, that's correct, and I've said so publicly. The cross Line of Control incursions are up from the end of June, but they're still below the sort of seasonal annual highs," Mr. Armitage said.

Mr. Armitage rejected the contention of Indian officials that the U.S. was "coddling'' Gen. Musharraf and not pushing him hard because of Pakistan's support to the ongoing efforts in Afghanistan.

"Well, I've heard comments along those lines in the past and it is true that President Musharraf has been extraordinarily helpful in the war on terrorism. By the same token, however, we have obtained a pledge from President Musharraf about cross-border activities and we are looking to him to live up to that pledge," the senior administration official responded.

While the situation between India and Pakistan is better now that it was in May or early June,'' it's clear that the incidents of violence are on the upswing."

Mr. Armitage declined to get into the specifics of what the U.S. knew and did not know about official Pakistani support — including that of the country's military intelligence — to outfits causing violence across the Line of Control.

"I'd say that we believe that President Musharraf is exerting efforts to case Pakistan support for cross-border jehadists. I am saying, however, that there are jehadists that are outside the control of all Pakistani authority. There are also jehadists that were already existent in Kashmir. They didn't need to cross the Line of Control to cause trouble."

On a dialogue between India and Pakistan, Mr. Armitage said that Gen. Musharraf had made it very clear that Pakistan had lived up to its end of the bargain and therefore hopeful that India would begin the dialogue.

"We see right now that India, for her part, is focussed almost entirely on the upcoming Kashmir elections, focussed like a laser on it. And perhaps if those elections can proceed relatively free of violence, then there can be some sort of dialogue," Mr. Armitage said and the official maintained that Gen. Musharraf had made it clear that his Government's position was to condemn violence during an electoral season.

"...There are plenty of people who don't want elections to take place. There have been elections in the past that have been full of violence. And I'm fearful that history would repeat itself. I was happy to receive President Musharraf's assurances that his Government condemned violence. And I hope that these elections will be carried out relatively free of violence," he said.

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