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Pallone writes to Albright on closer Indo-US ties over fighting terrorism

Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone, in a letter to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, has visualised the possibility of unity between India and the United States in the global struggle against terrorism with which, he says, Pakistan has lamentably been associated.

He also wanted the US to delink its Pakistan policy with that of India, specifically in terms of determining whether President Bill Clinton should travel to the region later this year.

Citing the progress in the recent talks on the nuclear issue between Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's special envoy Jaswant Singh, he said a presidential trip to India would be ''productive and substantive.''

Pallone said the United States should place more emphasis on Pakistan in its ongoing campaign against international terrorism.

He drew attention to the Pakistani government's complaint with the United Nations against the US military strikes in Afghanistan, and said Islamabad's move signalled that ''its government is not interested in being a partner in the US campaign against terrorist organisations.

Pallone, who is a co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, said, ''For a long time, I have been expressing concern about the role of Pakistan in terms of international terrorist activities in particular, and we have seen Pakistani involvement in the ongoing terror campaign in Kashmir.''

He said, ''There have been published reports that a significant number of the individuals who were at the terrorist camps in Afghanistan were Pakistani nationals (at the time of the US attack) and that they were planning to infiltrate into Kashmir.''

In recent years, Pallone pointed out, ''We have seen some of the most notorious international terrorists, including those responsible for the World Trade Centre bombings and shootings at the CIA headquarters, turning up in Pakistan. Last year, four Americans were assassinated in Karachi."

UNI

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