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By Amit Baruah
The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, with the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, prior to their delegation level meeting at the South Block in New Delhi on Friday. — Photo: V Sudershan
For his part, Mr. Armitage made it clear that the U.S. remained engaged in the task of persuading Pakistan and said Washington was "still at it'' as far as dealing with Islamabad was concerned. The U.S., he said, was using its good offices to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan. ``(Pakistani) President (Pervez) Musharraf in his broadcast, in his press conferences has made certain promises; not only to India but to the international community in general. And those promises have not been kept. What the U.S. is doing about it only the U.S. can tell you,'' Mr. Mishra said in response to questions outside the Prime Minister's Office late this evening. ``What we can tell you is that he (the Pakistani President) has not implemented the promises that he had made,'' Mr. Mishra said as the senior American official stood by. Maintaining that India and the U.S. had detailed discussions on all issues, he said India did not ask Mr. Armitage to convey anything to Gen. Musharraf tomorrow. ``It is up to him. What he wants to say, he will say. We only told him what is going on here,'' Mr. Mishra said, adding that he did not see the possibility of talks between India and Pakistan till cross-border terrorism ended. Signalling a sense of dissatisfaction within Government circles, he said: "I cannot tell you what America should do or should not do. It is for the U.S. to decide. We know that something was communicated to us and that has not been implemented. It is clear to us and I believe it is clear to the United States also.'' When asked about a certain sense of dissatisfaction about what the U.S. was doing with regard to Pakistan and the issue of cross-border terrorism, Mr. Armitage said he was "sorry'' that some people in India felt that way. ``But I'll note that we are still at it. Secretary (Colin) Powell has been out here several times... my third trip to India. There's an extraordinary amount of attention paid by my Government to this issue and I am sorry that in some minds it falls a little short. We are going to stay at it and continue to use our good offices,'' he said. Mr. Armitage, who also held detailed discussions with the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, and the Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal, said he had a full range of discussions on bilateral, military and multilateral issues and also exchanged "strategic views''. Washington wanted the elections in Kashmir to be free and fair and open. "There have been some difficulties historically but it looks to this visitor as if the Government of India is quite intent on having these as free and fair and open as possible. We are concerned about the possibilities of violence. Obviously this is something I will be discussing as I travel further (to Islamabad) on this mission.'' Mr. Armitage said he had seen the Indian Government's gesture and that it was willing to have a dialogue with the All-Party Hurriyat Conference. Asked whether he felt separatists should take part in the Kashmir elections, he said the dialogue offer was significant and ultimately the parties had to decide for themselves.
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