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Armitage arrives in Pakistan

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD May 7. The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, arrived here tonight to discuss with various functionaries of the Pakistan Government, among other subjects, "normalisation of ties" between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Mr. Armitage, who is visiting the subcontinent along with the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Christina Rocca, is spending four days in the capitals of Pakistan and India for extensive discussions with representatives of both Governments on a wide range of bilateral and Indo-Pak issues. Both Mr. Armitage and Ms. Rocca would make a day's trip to Afghanistan for a firsthand knowledge of the problems and prospects of the Hamid Karzai Government.

Though the Armitage visit is preceded by a number of steps taken by India and Pakistan towards lowering the temperature in the subcontinent, Washington in its capacity as an interlocutor is proceeding with a great deal of caution.

This is evident from the comments made by the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, at his press briefing on Tuesday and interaction of Mr. Armitage with the BBC before he embarked on the subcontinental tour.

During his visit to Pakistan in June last year, Mr. Armitage secured a `commitment' from the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, to "permanently end cross border infiltration". It was that assurance, which helped defuse the tension on the border, with the wake of troop mobilisation on both sides.

The Pakistan Foreign Office said the visit would provide an opportunity to discuss the bilateral, regional and international issues. "The situation vis-a-vis India and other related issues would also come under discussion,'' its spokesman said.

In his BBC interview, Mr. Armitage denied he had a roadmap for peace between India and Pakistan.

"The suggestion that I have some sort of a roadmap [for Kashmir] is false,'' he said before leaving on the tour of the region aimed at easing tensions in South Asia.

He told the channel that the dispute over Kashmir was worrisome — but less so than it had been a year ago, when the two sides almost went to war.

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