International
'India, Pak. must pull back'
WASHINGTON, JAN. 15. On the eve of his visit to New Delhi and Islamabad, the United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell, today said India and Pakistan need to ``pull back'' but ruled out chances of a nuclear confrontation in the sub-continent. He said a conflict between India and Pakistan had stabilised in recent days but an armed conflict could not be ruled out until there was a mutual troops pullback.
``We need India and Pakistan to pull back. We need to reduce the possibility that something could spark conflict between the two sides,'' he told the media.
Gen. Powell said there was danger of a war every time two armies were on hair-trigger alert. On the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf's speech on Saturday, he said it had improved the prospects for progress when he travels to the region. ``I think we will have quite a bit to work with in discussions with both sides,'' he said in separate interviews with CNN and Fox TV networks.
Meanwhile, Senator Joseph Lieberman said that he was encouraged by India's favourable responses thus far to Musharraf's ``principled'' statement.
The U.S. President, George W. Bush, views the Indo-Pak. face-off as being ``of concern'' even as Washington said its focus was on terrorism directed at India. ``The situation remains one of concern, and the President will continue to monitor it and stay fully engaged,'' the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, told reporters aboard the Air Force One Presidential aircraft.
``The United States will continue to play a constructive role and to be helpful to the two parties,'' said Mr. Fleischer, a day after Mr. Bush spoke on telephone to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Gen. Musharraf and urged them to reduce tensions.
The State Department declared that its focus was on cross-border terrorism against India and said if Gen. Musharraf translated his pledge to fight terrorism into action, it would help ease tensions between the two South Asian neighbours.
Ahead of Gen. Powell's visit to India and Pakistan, the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, told reporters here that the current focus of the U.S. was on implementation of Gen. Musharraf's commitment to ``take appropriate action against terrorists operating in and from Pakistan'' and not on other issues relating to the future.
- PTI
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