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'Pakistan and US can enhance relations, but not to the detriment of India'

In a sharp contrast to the US state department's view, Congressional Panel on Asia-Pacific Chairman Doug Bereuter was noncommittal on India's stand that New Delhi would take into account the nuclear and missile capability of not only Pakistan but of China too in evaluating its overall security concerns.

''That may be a concern in India. It is not one that I should comment on, and I think it is not an American issue. I don't think it is well placed,'' he said in reply to a question at a press conference organised by the Heritage Foundation, a pro-Republican think-tank, in Washington on Friday.

Recently, a senior state department official had said the US did not dispute that India would determine its strategic posture based on its assessment of the region.

''We (the US) understand the concerns that India has with China. China has a very advanced nuclear programme and India must be paying close attention to that as well,'' he had said.

Discussing the US security objectives in the Asia-Pacific, Bereuter, a Republican, said ''a major concern in South Asia is the reduction of tension between India and Pakistan, both of whom are known to have or are closer to a nuclear weapons capability.''

He said proliferation and disarmament were important issues for continuing discussions between the US and the Indian and Pakistani governments.

''Certainly the US views with alarm some of the rhetoric that reverberated during the recent Indian elections,'' he said, apparently referring to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's promise to review the country's nuclear policy and induct nuclear weapons.

He also said the recent testing of Pakistani ballistic missile Ghauri has also been a source of concern and controversy.

''Frankly, I am hopeful that India and Pakistan will soon realise, and act upon this realisation, that they must live and work together harmoniously. But I am concerned that events in South Asia might spin out of control as a result of an unintended misstep or inflammatory rhetoric,'' Bereuter observed.

He said the recent election in India and the 1997 election in Pakistan were a testament to the strengthened roots of democracy in South Asia.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, during her upcoming visit to China, would focus on issues of proliferation. Beijing's links with Pakistan and Iran would be at the top of her agenda.

Bereuter said economic relations between India and the US had expanded dramatically after the Soviet Union's disintegration. With the new election results, some of the worst fears of a rapid reversal in the economic relations of the two countries had not come true, he added.

Campaign rhetoric often did not materialise into government policies -- the two countries (India and the US) are likely to make progress, he said.

''The close economic relations between India and the US should suggest to the Pakistanis that they and the US should also move to closer relations,'' he said, ''I think they (the Pakistanis) are worried about the continued progression of India-American relations. I regard that as a positive concern because it makes it much more likely that Pakistan and the US can enhance relations, but not to the detriment of India.''

UNI

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