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Powell Winds Up South Asia Tour Without Success
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| Powell and India’s Singh in joint press conference |
NEW DELHI, Jan. 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, wound up a peace mission to Pakistan and India Friday, amid reports his visit has failed to bring the two nuclear arch-rivals any closer.
Powell has reportedly failed to convince India of accepting U.S. demands to start a dialogue with Islamabad and to de-escalate the current build-up of troops on the Pakistani borders.
According to reliable sources, Indian Prime Minister, Atal Beharee Vajpayee, told the visiting U.S. foreign secretary that India, under no conditions, will initiate a dialogue with Pakistan or de-escalate by withdrawing troops from the borders.
Sticking to its hard line stance, India insists further visible steps must be taken before a dialogue can begin and is further seeks the extradition of 20 wanted suspects allegedly sheltered by Pakistan.
The list includes 14 Indian nationals who have taken refuge in Pakistan and include some Mafia dons for whom red corner notices have been issued to the Interpol. India has indicated that it is ready to wait for Islamabad's response in respect of the Pakistani nationals on the list.
In a joint press conference Friday afternoon by Powell and his Indian counterpart, Jaswant Singh, Powell said that it is for India to judge when the time is ripe for starting a dialogue with Pakistan.
In answer to a question, he said that the ideas he exchanged with the Indian leaders were to stop the war rhetoric between the two countries, to take political and diplomatic steps leading to a dialogue, and to de-escalate.
Powell did not indicate if he achieved any degree of success during this visit, apart from claiming that both countries are serious about dialogue. He further abruptly ended the press conference amid body language messages that he was not comfortable with the rejectionist postures of his Indian counterpart.
Powell told Indian leaders that the United States is ready to help initiate the dialogue with Pakistan, but did not offer to 'mediate' -- a word abhorred by India.
Observers in Delhi believe that the United States has become become a mediator since President Pervez Musharraf took Powell into confidence about his measures before he pronounced them on 12 January. The U.S. has told India that it sees for itself a role in nudging the two countries to the negotiation table and helping them solve the Kashmir issue peacefully.
Powell, who has ended a visit to India as part of a peace-making tour of South Asia, met Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, before addressing a news conference, reported BBC’s online news service.
He told journalists that the United States would like a dialogue to begin as soon as possible, but it was up to the Indians to make a judgment in this regard.
"What we have to do is to be patient, remain committed to the diplomatic track and realize that this is a time of high tension when you have military forces in proximity to one another," Powell said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Powell was apparently directing his remarks to the Indian side which seems bent on playing tough until the end, some observers say due to “primarily internal reasons”, citing a tough electoral battle closing in.
In interviews with U.S. media before traveling to the region, Powell had said that the ball was in the Indian court. He said President Musharraf has taken two important steps: speaking unequivocally against Pakistan-oriented terrorism and secondly translating his words into actions by cracking down on five radical groups.
Singh, on his part, said that while New Delhi welcomed Musharraf's speech, it still wanted to see steps taken "demonstrably and recognizably" on the ground.
Powell discussed the military face-off with Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra in talks held Friday.
Powell proposed a three-stage process for resolving the crisis, a toning down of rhetoric, examination of tit-for-tat diplomatic sanctions imposed in recent weeks and finally a military de-escalation on the border.
"These were just suggestions of ways we can move forward without trying to get any agreement at this time, because agreements will come in due course as confidence is restored," Powell said.
"I think we are off to a pretty good start .. Let's see where this start takes us."
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two of them over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Powell's mission capped weeks of telephone diplomacy by Washington, which has watched the escalation of Indo-Pakistan tensions in recent weeks with increasing alarm.
Following the press briefing, Powell left India for the neighboring Himalayan kingdom of Nepal.
Powell's visit came as a bomb exploded in a busy market in Jammu, killing at least one civilian. Earlier, Indian soldiers killed three Kashmiri independence activists.
Thursday's clashes between Kashmiri activists and Indian forces were said to be the worst since the weekend, when General Musharraf announced his crackdown on pro-Kashmiri activists at home.
With additional reporting by IOL correspondent, Zafarul-Islam Khan
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