The Hindu : U.S focussed 'like a laser beam' to avert war

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 26, 2002

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U.S focussed 'like a laser beam' to avert war

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON MAY 25. The Bush administration is stepping up pressure on Pakistan on the issue of infiltration of militants into Kashmir and the Pakistani 10th Army Corps deployed in the northern part of the country facing the Indian forces in Kashmir has been ordered to block the traditional routes used by militants, says The Washington Post in its Saturday editions.

"We are focussed like a laser beam in trying to stop a war over the next two to three weeks,'' a senior administration official was quoted in the report. Although the United States has not "directly'' linked a Pakistani crackdown on infiltration to opening discussions on Kashmir, a senior official has told the paper that "we do tell the Indians they've got to deal with underlying causes''.

Indian diplomats here and officials in New Delhi have been making the point that incursions and anti-India violence are not on the upswing after a two-month lull. A senior official has said that the U.S. "largely'' shared India's conclusions that the incursions had resumed after a brief pause.

The decision to make the Pakistani 10th Army Corps deal with infiltration apparently comes after the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, told his Cabinet that there would have to be a readjustment in the Kashmir policy factoring in global realities but without compromising on the objective of freeing that territory from Indian control.

"While moving to stem the infiltration, Musharraf's Government has also decided to ratchet up its diplomatic and moral support for Kashmiri Muslims resisting Indian control," The Post says quoting Pakistan officials. The U.S. remains concerned about terrorist training facilities in Pakistan and also the fugitives sought by India but the administration's highest priority is choking infiltration on the premise that this factor could precipitate a war between the two countries.

On the diplomatic front, the State Department has been listing for the last few days the steps already taken by the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and the ones that are being put in place. On June 6 and June 7, the Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, will be in Pakistan and India. And in a pointed fashion, Washington has been urging Islamabad to end infiltration into Kashmir, saying that this was an important component of the overall process.

"We are asking the Indians to give diplomacy a chance to work, to give it time. We are telling the Pakistanis to ensure that infiltration across the Line of Control ceases... We are looking for the Pakistanis to ensure that nothing gets across the Line of Control," a senior official has been quoted.

Meanwhile, the State Department had criticised the latest Pakistan missile and said that both India and Pakistan must take steps to prevent a costly arms race which was not in the interests of regional and international security.

"We are disappointed by the Government of Pakistan's announced decision to test missiles at this time. The current tensions in the region which we were just discussing only reinforce the need for India and Pakistan to take steps to prevent a costly and destabilising arms race. And we think such an arms race would be a threat to regional and international security," the Deputy Spokesman, Philip Reeker, said on Friday.

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