The Hindu : Pak. needs to take more steps: Straw

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 20, 2002

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Pak. needs to take more steps: Straw

By Amit Baruah

The British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, with the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, in New Delhi on Friday. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan

NEW DELHI July 19. The British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, will be shuttling between New Delhi and Islamabad for "separate discussions'' with the two Governments on finding ways to further reduce tensions between the two countries.

Mr. Straw, who will take a special flight to Islamabad tomorrow for talks with the Pakistani leadership, held discussions on the South Asian scenario and other bilateral issues with the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, and the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Brajesh Mishra, today.

Mr. Straw, who said his travel plans had dictated his return to New Delhi tomorrow evening, said he would be meeting Mr. Sinha again before leaving for London. Repeatedly urging a permanent end to infiltration from the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, Mr. Straw said the international community was not about to walk away from the prevailing situation in South Asia.

To a question if the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, had done enough to curb cross-border terrorism, Mr. Straw said he was glad to note that progress had been made, but there were "further steps'' that needed to be taken before "we can secure a situation where there can be an active dialogue''.

Concern over Kashmir situation

While India should be happy about Mr. Straw's stress on Pakistan needing to take further steps on curbing terrorism, his formulation on the centrality of resolving the Kashmir issue may be less than pleasing to New Delhi. ``We are always concerned about the situation here and we shall stay concerned — I am sure the international community as a whole will be — till there is a resolution of this long-standing conflict between India and Pakistan about Kashmir... that's at the heart of it...'' he said. In his opening statement, Mr. Straw said that after his last visit and that of the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, levels of infiltration from across the LoC had come down and India took a number of de-escalatory measures, both of which were welcomed. ``Obviously, we want to see a permanent end to infiltration across that Line of Control. Tension since Mr. Armitage and I were here last has been lowered although the situation across the LoC remains difficult,'' he said.

Mr. Straw said that he discussed the coming elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly with his Indian interlocutors. "India has a commendable record overall in establishing legislative frameworks and human rights' machinery. We will continue to encourage India to improve the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir.'' On what Britain wanted from the elections in Jammu and Kashmir, he said London wanted the will of the people to be expressed and that the environment for the elections should be free and fair.

Referring to the pledge that Gen. Musharraf had given to curb terrorism, Mr. Straw said this was a matter of record that the Pakistani leader was "very committed'' to end terrorism.

In a related development, the Foreign Office spokesperson said that India's concerns about continuing infiltration from across the LoC were conveyed to Mr. Straw. She repeated that until infiltration stopped and the infrastructure of terrorism dismantled, India was in no position to speed up any further de-escalatory steps. The British side, she added, expressed understanding of the Indian position.

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