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Clinton may skip Pakistan

C K Arora in Washington

US President Bill Clinton in his proposed visit to India and Bangladesh in March is likely to skip Pakistan.

An impression to this effect was given by Pakistani diplomats who are trying to prevent this eventuality. They expect an official announcement by the White House on the visit within the next few days, foreclosing, at least for the time being, the possibility of a stop-over in Islamabad.

They said the White House is struggling for a language of the announcement to avoid the exclusion of Islamabad being interpreted as a rebuff to Pakistan, which stood by the United States in the heydays of the Cold War.

The impression it wants to create is that the issue of visiting Pakistan is still open. It may hold out the hope of Clinton touring Pakistan later some time. The last presidential visit to the region was some two decades ago in which the then president Jimmy Carter, a democrat like Clinton, had dropped Pakistan from his itinerary.

Left to himself, President Clinton is keen to go to Pakistan, but impression here is that the military regime is finding it difficult to accommodate the US requirements for such a visit. The US wants the military regime to come out with some outline of the restoration of civilian rule and action against organisations like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, known for sponsoring terrorism abroad.

Reports here say the military rule finds it difficult to proceed against the well-entrenched fundamentalists. Nor is it in a position to spell out a time-frame for the restoration of democracy.

Without some kind of movement on these two issues, the White House is unable to accommodate Islamabad in the presidential travel plans.

Meanwhile, several Congressman have gone public advising the President against visiting Pakistan because of the October overthrow of the elected government in that country.

Pakistani Ambassador to the US Dr Maleeha Lodhi, who returned last week from Islamabad after consultations with the government, appears to be reconciled to the idea of Pakistan not finding place in Clinton's tour.

She was present in Pakistan when assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, Karl Inderfurth, met the country's military ruler Pervez Musharraf and conveyed to him the US concerns on the restoration of democracy and the role of Pakistan-based militant groups.

UNI

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