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| Sunday, 11 May 2003 |
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Armitage in India to promote thaw with Pakistan NEW DELHI, Saturday (Reuters) U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage arrived in New Delhi on Friday to encourage nuclear rivals India and Pakistan to build on a thaw in ties. However, hours before Armitage arrived from Kabul on the last leg of his South Asian shuttle tour, India's hawkish deputy prime minister said friendship with Pakistan was possible, but Islamabad should first end support for militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. "Our stand on cross-border terrorism is still the same, but we have also said that just because of our committed stand that cross-border terrorism must stop, it doesn't mean we can't be friends," said Lal Krishna Advani, a hardliner in the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "Friendship is in our interest, Pakistan's interest, in the interest of the world," Advani told a meeting of his party. "Friendship is possible...but you have to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure first." India accuses Pakistan of training and arming militants and then sending them to fight in a revolt against Indian rule in Kashmir, what it calls "cross-border terrorism". Pakistan says it gives only moral support to the Kashmiri "freedom struggle". Armitage told reporters in Islamabad on Thursday that Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf had pledged to take action against training camps, if indeed there were any. The U.S. official is due to hold talks with Indian leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, on Saturday. Advani's comments highlighted India's new cautious and conciliatory approach towards Pakistan. The nuclear-armed rivals came close to war last year over Kashmir, but began improving ties this month by renewing full diplomatic relations and easing travel curbs. Vajpayee, 78, has pledged a final decisive bid to make peace with Pakistan, after holding failed summits with Pakistani leaders in 1999 and 2001. The powerful Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which has consistently sought a tough stand towards Pakistan, also endorsed the government's efforts to renew ties with Pakistan but said it must be careful. "We are with the government to restore sports, cultural ties, and civil aviation links," said Ram Madhav, spokesman of the RSS. "But for political dialogue to begin, Pakistan must stop cross-border terrorism." Violence has continued in Kashmir since the peace overtures by New Delhi and Islamabad. Three children were killed when a mortar fired by Indian troops hit a house in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir on Friday, Pakistani police said. |
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