Achievers
Books
Business
Calender
Community
Controversy
Cuisine
Eateries
Education
Enterprise
Faith
Good Samaritans
Health
Infotech
Media
Memories
Movies
News Archives
Opinion
Specials
The Arts

Albright: Clinton to seek new ties with India, discuss terrorism with Musharraf

A P Kamath

Saying that 22 years is far too long an interval between presidential trips to India, and regretting that the enormous potential of Indo-US relations went largely untapped because of Cold War politics, Secretary of State Madeleine K Albright has asserted that Bill Clinton "will seek to begin a new chapter in our relations with one of the world's leading countries and oldest civilizations".

"India is projected to pass China in size in the early decades of this century, and I can think of few greater gifts to the future than a strong and co-operative strategic relationship between India and the United States," she said on Tuesday while addressing a gathering at the Asia Society in Washington DC.

Though she also talked about Bangladesh and Pakistan, most of her speech was confined to India and America.

She said Clinton is not going to Pakistan to mediate on the Kashmir dispute. "We have made it clear he will not do that unless both sides ask," she added. But he will surely discuss the issue of terrorism during his brief stay in Pakistan, and America will watch if General Musharraf's declaration that he will go to Afghanistan to review the terrorism issue will come to fruition.

"Last 4th of July, the President's ability to engage directly with the Pakistani government played a key role in defusing a tense conflict in Kargil," she continued. "For the President to maintain such lines of communication may be very important in any future crisis."

"We are going to Pakistan because the United States has interests there which are important -- and urgent," she continued, having said earlier that Clinton was not going to endorse the military regime there.

"Our interests include avoiding the threat of conflict in South Asia; fostering democracy in Pakistan; fighting terrorism; preventing proliferation; and doing what we can to help create an environment of regional peace and security; and reaching out to a people whose history is one of friendship with the United States."

"Another vital US interest in Pakistan is countering terrorism. The terrorist camps next door in Afghanistan directly threaten American lives. Because of Pakistan's influence with its neighbour, this matter will be high on the President's agenda."

"General Musharraf has offered to go to Afghanistan himself to discuss concerns about terrorism. We hope to hear more from him about this. And we want to see steps to address the effects of terror on Pakistan's neighbours, notably India."

She recalled that when she was a young girl, her father worked as a diplomat at the UN on the problem of Kashmir. "He wrote a book whose first chapter contains the simple but eloquent statement, 'The history of Kashmir is a sad story.' He is now dead, and I am old, and yet still this tragic story goes on," Albright added.

But she found hope in the changed political scenario in the Indian subcontinent.

"The conflict over Kashmir has been fundamentally transformed," she explained.

"For nations must not attempt to change borders or zones of occupation through armed force. And now that they have exploded nuclear devices, India and Pakistan have all the more reason to avoid an armed conflict, and all the more reason to restart a discussion on ways to build confidence and prevent escalation."

She said she was delighted that Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh will join her and five other foreign ministers as co-sponsors of the Community of Democracies initiative in Warsaw this June.

"This is a splendid example of the kind of ambitious and yet practical co-operation that India and the United States are in a unique position to pursue," she added.

But a stronger relationship with America will not evolve unless the nuclear issues are addressed, she said.

While America recognises fully India's right to decide about what is necessary for the defence of India and America does not regard India's missiles or nuclear weapons as a direct threat, "we do regard proliferation -- anywhere -- as our Number One security concern."

"We believe the South Asian nuclear tests of May 1998 were a historic mistake," she said. "And UN Security Council Resolution 1172 makes it plain that the international community agrees with us."

"And for this reason, we must accept that significant progress in this area is necessary, before India and the United States can realise fully the vast potential of our relationship."

Deputy Secretary Talbott and Jaswant Singh "have gone to unprecedented lengths" to initiate a productive dialogue, she added.

"We have not yet found a way to create sufficient common ground on these issues," she said. "But I am convinced that our relationship today has the strength and breadth to keep working through our differences and find a way forward."

"We believe that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would advance India's security interests -- as, by the way, it would advance our own," she continued.

"We likewise believe that steps to strengthen India's already-effective system of export controls would be in our common interests," she added. "So would a global treaty to ban the production of fissile material for weapons -- and pending that, a multilateral moratorium."

Much time has been lost in not building stronger ties between Washington and New Delhi.

"Even after the Cold War's end, the United States and India were slow to explore in depth the many areas where our interests increasingly converge," she continued. "We also failed to lay a fresh foundation for managing our differences."

But she hastened to add that both nations were hesitant to forge stronger ties.

"In some quarters in India, there was a lingering suspicion of US intentions in world affairs," she continued. "And on the American side, some could not or would not understand India's compulsions and aspirations."

The "mindset of mutual distrust is beginning to change," she said, recalling the spiritual links between the two nations.

"And we have been a rich source of ideas and inspiration for one another," she continued. "Mahatma Gandhi studied Thoreau and the New England Transcendentalists -- who in turn were deeply indebted to ancient Indian philosophy. Martin Luther King, Jr then looked to Gandhi's towering example of non-violence. And the framers of India's Constitution looked to our own in developing their framework for a free society."

She did not mince words about human rights issues in India, and said that the concerns about them are still being addressed.

"But for all our imperfections, the United States and India are the world's most visible messengers of the truth that secular, pluralist democracy not only can work, it does work," she continued.

India's contribution to technological revolution worldwide should not come as a surprise, she said, reminding her audience that Indians make up 30 per cent of software workers worldwide.

"The Indian civilization gave the world several key building blocks of modern mathematics," she added. "Today, India's pool of trained scientists and engineers is second in size only to our own."

The opening of the Indian economy is good news for India, she said. "And as India's largest trade and investment partner, it is also good news for us."

Previous: Veteran congressmen back India's claim to permanent UN seat

Next: Varsha Rao to share her success story with TiE

Tell us what you think of this report