International

India, Pak. must move to ease tension: U.S.

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON APRIL 4. The Bush administration has once again asked India and Pakistan to take steps to ease tensions and start a dialogue on all issues, including Kashmir.

"The crisis has eased somewhat but there is still a danger. We are urging both sides to lessen that danger by toning down the rhetoric, by restoring full diplomatic relations and by reducing the military posture,'' the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Donald Camp, said.

Mr. Camp was speaking on "U.S.-South Asia Relations After 9/11'' at the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, a lecture sponsored by the South Asia Programme.

He said the U.S. hoped that India and Pakistan would enter into a dialogue on all issues, including Kashmir. The expectation was that Pakistan would curb militant infiltration into Kashmir and that India would address the Kashmiri grievances and ensure the widest participation in the elections. Mr. Camp also stressed that only India and Pakistan could act. "We can only encourage that''.

In a wide-ranging presentation, Mr. Camp not only focussed on the larger theme of terrorism and its relevance and implications to South Asia but also the path taken by individual countries in the region in the realm of economic and political development. South Asia is a focal point of the Bush administration foreign policy agenda, the senior official observed.

All countries of South Asia had been quite supportive of the U.S. in the fight against terrorism, Mr. Camp said adding that India made quick and decisive offers of support and now continues with practical and diplomatic support to the efforts, regionally and internationally. Mr. Camp, in his reference to Pakistan, went beyond what that country has done on the terrorism front and touched on the various political, economic, electoral and social reforms being attempted by the President, Pervez Musharraf. The Pakistani leader was praised for putting in motion a bold new course with the speech of January 12 seen as "ground breaking''.

On the issue of the referendum in Pakistan, Mr. Camp emphasised the importance of a Pakistan that is fully democratic. "We need to see a Pakistan that is fully democratic. I think we need to move toward that. I am not going to criticise particular steps in that path. I don't think that's our role.''

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