The Hindu : It is for India, Pak to find a solution, says Powell

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 01, 2002

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It is for India, Pak to find a solution, says Powell

By P. S. Suryanarayana

The U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell (left), the European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana (centre), and the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, hug before the start of the ninth ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan on Tuesday. — AFP

Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei) July 31. The United States is understood to have assured India that the emergence of the Kashmir issue as a matter of international concern does not imply that it would like the global community, more particularly Washington itself, to play a role in the resolution of the dispute.

This, and other aspects of an India-friendly disposition, came into focus during a brief conversation that the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, held with the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, on the margins of the latest annual plenary of the Association of South East Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF) here today.

Outlining the substantive details of the conversation, the Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal, told the media that Gen. Powell had indicated that the resolution of the Kashmir issue would be a matter for India and Pakistan to address.

He quoted Gen. Powell as having said that his latest reported comment on Kashmir "does not refer to a solution, which you have to find yourself."

Gen. Powell's diplomatic intervention here may now influence, if not also defuse, the raging controversy over the apprehension that New Delhi might be mortgaging its sovereignty over the Kashmir issue to the United States.

The row was caused by recent reports that quoted Gen. Powell as having said, during his recent visit to the subcontinent, that Kashmir was on the international agenda.

Mr. Sibal said that Gen. Powell apprised the External Affairs Minister of America's latest interaction with Pakistan on issues such as cross-border terrorism. Responding to Pakistan's concerns, as relayed by Gen. Powell, Mr. Sinha said that India would expect Islamabad to cooperate on anti-terror issues in much the same way as Pakistan was engaging the U.S. itself.

And that India's responses to Pakistan would be determined by how far it might take steps for an effective cessation of cross-border terrorism on a permanent basis.

The meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Tang Jiaxiang, was one of a series of bilateral exchanges that Mr. Sinha held with Western and Asian Foreign Ministers today. Mr. Sinha and his Chinese counterpart sought to put their interaction in the larger perspective of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's prospective visit to China later this year.

Expressing China's understanding and sympathy for India as a victim of international terrorism, Mr. Tang expressed the hope that New Delhi and Islamabad could resolve the problems in their relationship through dialogue in an atmosphere of goodwill and sincerity.

In a brief media response after the meeting, Mr. Sinha said that Mr. Tang did not raise the question of Chinese concerns, if any, over the manner in which the U.S. and India had struck a strategic understanding about patrolling the Malaccan Straits.

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