Washington: Terming the Indo-Pak stand off as "a very difficult and dangerous
situation", US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the United States wants to
remain engaged in helping the two sub continental rivals resolve their disputes in a
peaceful way.
Powell rejected the view aired by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha that an
Indian pre-emptive strike against Pakistan was as justified as the one now being
carried out by the US against Iraq.
"I don't think there is a direct parallel between the two situations," Powell told
Pakistan television in an interview on April 10.
On Indo-Pak stand off, he said, "We do have a very difficult and a dangerous
situation with respect to actions across the line of control (LoC)," adding that he
remained in close touch with authorities of India and Pakistan.
"The United States will stay engaged, but we don't believe there is a need now for
any military action of any kind. We are looking to help the two parties resolve this
in a peaceful way, and you can be sure that I will personally remain engaged, as
will President Bush and members of his administration."
Powell said the US wants to have strong relations with India and Pakistan
and "through these relations we can serve to help both countries start to begin a
dialogue with each other on outstanding issues. We want to be a friend to both
nations".
On the future of US-Pak relations, Powell said as a result of the co-operation that
Pakistan had extended in fighting the Taleban and al-Qaida, the US hopes to find new
areas of co-operation.
Powell said it was through the co-operation US has received from Pakistan that it
had been possible to bring down the Taleban in Afghanistan and break the hold al-
Qaida had on the country.
Asked about "lingering fears in the Muslim world about US pre-emptive attacks down
the road after the war in Iraq," Powell said, US has not drawn up any list for
attacking countries after Iraq.
"The United States does not have some plan or some list of nations that we are going
to go attack one after another," he said.
"We hope that as a result of what happened in Iraq and the revulsion that the world
has to terrorist activities and to development of weapons of mass destruction that
some of the nations that we have been in touch with, speaking to – Syria and Iran –
we are moving in a new direction."
Powell said, "US wants to speak firmly about this, speak from a position of
principle that this is the time for all nations to realise that terrorism is a
threat to all of us and "we all must do everything that we can to end terrorism and
also do something about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction".
Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the US was asking
Pakistan to "limit infiltration" into Kashmir, but insisted that no parallel could
be drawn between Pakistani terrorism in Kashmir and alleged Iraqi terrorism.
Rejecting the Indian view that a pre-emptive strike against Islamabad was as
justified as the one being carried out by US forces in Iraq, he said, adding "You
can't – should never consider military force the first option. You should never
consider that a situation has to be dealt with militarily. You should always look
for other ways of dealing with it."
"We think the situation with regard to Kashmir and India-Pakistan tensions is not
the same as the situation that we and the international community have faced over
these years with Iraq, that there are better and different and other ways to deal
with this and to deal with it more successfully than one could with military
action," he said.
Boucher said the way to handle the situation in Kashmir is for both sides to stick
by their efforts to reduce tension, and "for us to continue to work with both sides
to eventually get a dialogue going on all the issues involved, including Kashmir".
PTI
