The Hindu : 'Better ways to deal with Indo-Pak. tension'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 12, 2003

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International

'Better ways to deal with Indo-Pak. tension'

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington April 11. The State Department has once again held out the view that the situation in Kashmir and the tensions between India and Pakistan are not the same as the situation faced by the international community over Iraq; and that there are ``better and different other ways'' to deal with the problem in the sub-continent.

On media reports that India had threatened to make a pre-emptive strike against Pakistan for terrorist attacks in Kashmir, the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said ``... you should never consider military force as 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 have spelt our view... that the way to handle the situation and the problems of Kashmir is for both sides to reduce tensions, for the Pakistani side to continue its efforts to limit infiltration across the Line of Control, and for us to continue to work with both sides to eventually get a dialogue going on all issues involved, including Kashmir,'' Mr. Boucher said. ``That's been an ongoing effort that we've continued.''

During the last several days officials here have indeed been taking note of the high flying rhetoric in New Delhi and Islamabad as to which country is the ``fit'' case for military action by the United States after Iraq. Washington has been making the point that there are no parallels between Iraq and Kashmir; and that the U.S. did not have a ``list'' of countries for attack. ``Any attempts to draw parallels between Iraq and the Kashmir are wrong,'' a State Department official told The Hindu recently.

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