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Powell Arrives in India After Reassuring Pakistan on Support
NEW DELHI, Oct 16 (News Agencies) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in New Delhi Tuesday on the second stop of a lightning South Asian tour aimed at reducing tension between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan amid new strains over Kashmir.
Powell landed in the Indian capital after reassuring officials in Pakistan about their domestic economic concerns and their fears about American policy in Afghanistan, now the target of a U.S.-led anti-terrorism campaign, and India.
Both India and Pakistan have pledged support to the anti-terror coalition but have become increasingly bellicose over Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan territory that has been the cause of two of the three wars between them.
In Islamabad, Powell told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that Washington believes Kashmir is "central" to stability in South Asia, a stance reinforced by barrage of Indian artillery strikes late Monday on positions in the Pakistan-administered portion of the territory.
A senior State Department official traveling with Powell said Monday's attacks - justified by India as a punitive measure for Pakistan's support of Islamic activists - made Kashmir all the more important in the relationship.
"It reinforces in our mind the need for both sides to be more careful and the need for both sides to take steps to resolve the situation and reduce the tension," the official told reporters aboard Powell's plane en route to New Delhi.
But India, which opposes Pakistan's view that Kashmir is the "core" issue in their relationship that must be addressed before all others, squarely rejected Powell's comment on the centrality of Kashmir.
"We certainly do not agree with that premise," said Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao.
"This is not a new position that has been expressed and our response to that is also not altered," she added.
India insists that the activists are "terrorists" harbored by Pakistan and should be included in the war against terror.
For its part, Pakistan says Kashmiri Muslims are oppressed and terms Indian military retaliation against them as "state sponsored terrorism".
"I will press upon both sides ... that dialogue between the two sides is important," Powell said at a joint news conference with Musharraf earlier in Islamabad.
Powell, who attended a dinner in New Delhi hosted by Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh late Tuesday prior to talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Wednesday, also offered to be "helpful" if both countries wanted the United States to play a role.
Islamabad has long been seeking U.S. or U.N. mediation in Kashmir. India opposes any third party intervention on the grounds that Kashmir is an integral part of its sovereign territory.
Indian officials have expressed displeasure over Washington's alliance with Pakistan, which Washington says was necessitated by the anti-terrorism war, Islamabad's proximity to Afghanistan and its ties to the country's Taliban militia.
But the senior official said there was no reason for any nervousness on the part of New Delhi.
"The basic point to India is we have a very important relationship that is developing very quickly," the official said. "We are united in a war against terrorism and we will use this [visit] to advance our relationship."
"What we do with Pakistan won't subtract from our relationship with you," the official said referring to India.
In his news conference with Musharraf, Powell hailed the president's "bold and courageous" decision to join the anti-terrorism coalition and pledged an infusion of U.S. foreign aid, which in the short term, is expected to total some $500 million.
It was not immediately clear if such pledges would be forthcoming in New Delhi with which the senior official said Washington had a "different" and "more advanced" relationship.
In addition to discussing Kashmir and India's contribution to the anti-terror campaign, Powell was expected to discuss with Vajpayee the future of Afghanistan, a subject raised at length with Musharraf.
Musharraf said he and Powell had agreed that a durable peace in Afghanistan was only possible through a "broad-based, multi-ethnic government" established without outside interference.
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