International

We take Musharraf's word seriously, says Rice

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington MAY 21. The Bush administration says that there is a ``lot of active diplomacy'' on the India-Pakistan front even as the State Department made a formal announcement that the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, will be travelling to the region.

The National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said the U.S. took the statements of the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, seriously and expected them to be fulfilled. She said that neither India nor Pakistan would ``benefit'' from war.

Briefing reporters on the U.S. President, George Bush's coming trip to Europe, including Russia, she made the point that Moscow had been ``helpful'' in some of the diplomacy in South Asia.

``Let me just say that there's a lot of active diplomacy on the India-Pakistan front. We take the assurances and the commitments that President Musharraf made — not just to the President but in an open speech — that they would end activity across the Line of Control from the territory of Pakistan, that they would deal with the infrastructure of terrorism. We take those quite seriously, expect them to be fulfilled,'' Dr. Rice said.

``We expect the Indian Government to recognise that war will help no one here; that neither side — Pakistan nor India — is going to benefit from war. And we recognise the statesman-like stance that India has taken in recent months, starting with the attack on Indian Parliament. And the President had a chance to communicate that to Prime Minister Vajpayee just a few days ago,'' she said.

At the State Department, its spokesman, Richard Boucher, made the formal announcement that Mr. Armitage will be travelling to the region ``in the near future''. But he pointed out that the senior administration official was not being ``rushed'' to the region.

``I don't think we are rushing Deputy Secretary Armitage out there. He has been involved in this situation in the past. He has gone there before... Our Deputy Secretary has been involved and will remain involved,'' Mr. Boucher said.

The administration has once again reiterated its concerns about the potential of a conflict between India and Pakistan. ``We have been working with both those Governments to try to see if we can't use the excellent relations that they each have with the United States to contribute in some way to an easing of the tensions,'' he said on Monday.

``We think the surest way to lower tensions and resolve disputes between neighbours is through more dialogue between them, not less. That makes it important to keep their channels of direct communication open,'' he remarked.

This was a reference to the recent development where New Delhi has asked Islamabad to withdraw its top envoy from India.

Without getting into the specifics, Mr. Boucher said the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, had talked to Gen. Musharraf on Sunday. ``I'm really not at this point prepared to go into specific details of their discussion other than to say that whenever he talks to his counterparts in the region, whether it is Foreign Minister (Jaswant) Singh or in the case of Pakistan he talks frequently with President Musharraf, he's always looking for what the United States can do and how we can help ease the tensions between them,'' Mr. Boucher said.

Asked if the administration was satisfied with Islamabad's efforts to crack down on militant groups involved in the attacks in Kashmir, Mr. Boucher, among other things, referred to the January 12 speech of Gen. Musharraf adding that the Pakistani leader himself would not think that the process was over.

``...He's taken a number of very specific steps with regard to the groups. But I think he himself would say that process is by no means over. It's an ongoing process and there's a lot more to do. And so as he proceeds down that road, we remain very interested in the steps he's taking to carry out the January 12 speech,'' the spokesman noted.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Pakistan calls it an 'act of terrorism'
• Pak. forces on 'full alert'
• We take Musharraf's word seriously, says Rice
• Karachi stock market witnesses crash
• Plan to counter terrorism
• Killinochchi talks focus on highway dispute
• China pursues space programme in secrecy
• Sharon sacks coalition Ministers
• Chittagong leader alleges conspiracy
• Questions remain about Musharraf's policy: U.S. report
• Blair voices concern over trans-Atlantic divide
• Berlin gears up to tackle anti-Bush protests
• Setback to Musharraf move
• U.K. media for referendum in Kashmir
• Show restraint, China tells India, Pak.

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu