The Hindu : 'Pak. alone not responsible for infiltration'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 25, 2002

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'Pak. alone not responsible for infiltration'

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Aug. 24. The visiting United States Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, said here today that there was ``some infiltration'' across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir but the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, had reiterated his commitment to do all he could to stop infiltration.

Talking to a select group of journalists after a meeting with Gen. Musharraf, Mr. Armitage said that no one believed that Islamabad could ensure complete stoppage of infiltration across the LoC.

``There is some infiltration across the Line of Control, but (Musharraf) has assured me the Government is not supporting them (infiltrators). No one, here in Pakistan or in India, thinks that the Pakistan Government is solely responsible for the infiltration,'' he said in response to a question.

Implied was the suggestion that while there was merit in the Indian perception about the continuing infiltration, Pakistan could not be held responsible for it. More important was his statement that even New Delhi was conscious of it.

The statement by Mr. Armitage, who arrived here this morning after talks with the Indian leaders, assumes significance in the wake of the statements made by the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan, Yashwant Sinha and Inam ul Haq, in Kathmandu, on the sidelines of the SAARC Foreign Ministers meet. Mr. Haq had remarked that it was not possible for Pakistan to ensure that infiltration totally stopped, given the treacherous nature of the terrain, to which Mr. Sinha had said that India was willing to cooperate in dealing with the problem.

In response to a question on the Indo-Pak. standoff, Mr. Armitage said, "we can offer assistance, we cannot impose a solution and should not impose a solution.'' He acknowledged that little had changed in the tense standoff since his visit in June. The best thing that the U.S. could do at this juncture was to "follow the Hippocratic oath, which is to do no harm.''

Unlike his visit in June, at the height of the Indo-Pak. tensions, the focus of Mr. Armitage's discussions covered a wide range of issues, including bilateral ties between Pakistan and the U.S. and the situation in Afghanistan.

Mr. Armitage profusely thanked Gen. Musharraf "and his excellent army and police force'' for their help in tracking down the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda fugitives "in difficult conditions'' along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

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