U.S. wants India, Pak. to continue dialogue

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, AUG. 3. The United States wants India and Pakistan to continue the process of dialogue at the highest level, that began last month at Agra. This was the message, which emerged at the end of the tour of the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Ms. Christina Rocca, to the sub-continent.

The keenness of the U.S. to see India and Pakistan pick up the threads from Agra was evident from a statement issued by Ms. Rocca at the end of her two-week-long trip to India, Nepal and Pakistan.

``We want peace in South Asia. We welcome the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee's decision to accept the Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf's invitation to visit Pakistan. We sincerely hope both sides will use these exchanges to heal the rifts between these two great countries'', she said.

Ms. Rocca congratulated Gen. Musharraf for travelling to Agra to meet Mr. Vajpayee. ``This was an important topic of conversation in many of my meetings in Delhi as well''.

Ms. Rocca avoided reference to contentious issues between India and Pakistan that came in the way of the signing of the proposed joint declaration at Agra. Her emphasis instead was on the need for both the countries to move on from Agra.

Though it was billed as a ``familiarisation trip'', the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State did ventilate in unambiguous terms, concerns of the Bush administration on a number of subjects vis-a-vis Pakistan, as well as Afghanistan.

Ms. Rocca told her interlocutors in Islamabad that in the perception of the Bush administration, Pakistan has historically played a ``pivotal role'' in South Asia and would continue to do so. ``There is much that binds Pakistan and the U.S. together''.

On the U.S. sanctions against Pakistan, she said the administration viewed them with a ``fresh eye''. At the same time, she said the U.S. wanted Pakistan to return to a ``democratic and constitutional'' Government.

On the obstacles in the way of better relations with Pakistan, Ms. Rocca said that even if the nuclear-related sanctions were to be lifted, sanctions under section 508 of the Foreign Assistance Act would remain in place until democracy was restored. ``This provision requires a return to democratic government before U.S. assistance can resume. We would like to see Pakistan resume, as soon as possible, a system of democratic, constitutional government, in which civilians elected in free and fair elections are in charge. We would also like to see political parties allowed to function freely, including the ability to assembly, publicity without fear of arrest,'' she said.

Ms. Rocca said that Gen. Musharraf had assured her during their meeting that he would respect the Supreme Court's order to hold free and fair elections by October 2002.

On resumption of aid to Pakistan, she said that recently an exception to the sanctions was obtained to allow the U.S. to launch a $2.5 million primary education assistance programme.

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