Faced with a host less accommodating than last time, secretary of state Colin Powell today tried to pacify India by hinting that America could use its persuasive powers to make President Pervez Musharraf honour his pledge to stop infiltration.
“The US is used to making its friends honour their pledge,” Powell told foreign minister Yashwant Sinha this evening.
The US secretary of state, who will meet Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee tomorrow, will leave for Islamabad the same day to hold consultations with Musharraf.
Powell, who is here to break the deadlock between the neighbours and nudge India to the talks table, tried to convince Delhi that Musharraf has already taken steps to stop cross-border terrorism.
But Sinha, who met Powell today for the first time after assuming charge of the Indian foreign ministry, remained sceptical of Musharraf’s intention.
During the hour-long talks at Hyderabad House, Sinha told Powell that a large number of terrorists was waiting on the other side of the border and cited evidence of fresh terrorist camps on Pakistani territory.
Powell then assured Sinha he would make a renewed effort to convince the Pakistan President to honour his pledge.
“There is growing recognition, not only in the US but also among the world leaders, that President Musharraf must honour his pledge. We cannot be involved in diplomatic games of bluff,” foreign ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao said while briefing reporters on the meeting between the two leaders.
The US secretary of state had told journalists accompanying him that there was no “sure way” of assessing the level of infiltration. His comments were seen as either an attempt to dispute the Indian claim that infiltration across the LoC had gone up over the past few weeks or to convince Indian leaders that Pakistan was taking steps to deal with terrorists.
Powell said he was also trying to assess when the two hostile nuclear neighbours could return to the negotiation table.
“Will it be when the escalation goes down? Will it be when there is greater assurance that there is no cross-border infiltration? Or, will it be when elections in Jammu and Kashmir are over?” he asked.
The secretary of state said all these “are possibilities that I will explore with the two sides and see if we can even begin talking about talks at some point in the near future”.
Sinha, however, ruled out the possibility of early resumption of talks between India and Pakistan. “India has always held that if the necessary conditions for talks are created, we will have talks. But we do not think that necessary conditions exist at present,” the foreign minister said before the talks with Powell began.
Hours before Powell’s arrival, militants struck near Srinagar, killing four civilians in a grenade attack on a crowded market.
The US secretary of state said he was not expecting a “breakthrough yet of the
kind that one saw a month or so ago”.
“I just want to make sure we are not just stopped and I want to see what both sides might be willing to do to keep going down that escalatory ladder,” Powell added.
He said that “ultimately, we have to get to dialogue or else we will just be stuck on a plateau which would not serve our interests. We do not want to be back where we were a few months ago, a few months from now.”
Powell will also meet deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani
and national security adviser Brajesh Mishra tomorrow morning.
Besides Powell, the American side was represented at today’s talks by the assistant secretary of state for South Asia, Christina Rocca, and Elizabeth Millard of the US National Security Council.
Sinha was assisted by officials of the foreign ministry,
including the joint secretary (Americas), Jayant Prasad, and the Indian ambassador in
Washington.
Sinha had said earlier that foreigners based in India would be allowed to go to Jammu and Kashmir when elections are held. However, the government may not invite international
observer groups to the state.
