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Sharief fails to get US nod for mediation in Kashmir

Desikan Thirunarayanapuram in Washington

President Bill Clinton met with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief yesterday, shortly after formally waiving the economic sanctions against both Pakistan and India imposed after the nuclear tests in May.

Islamabad, however, failed in its renewed bid to secure US mediation on Kashmir, in view of Clinton's insistence that India, the other party to the dispute, too agree before Washington could play such a role.

At the end of the meeting, US official Bruce Riedel said the president had reaffirmed that it would need to be a request from both parties for the US to play such role.

Riedel, who is senior director for near eastern and South Asian affairs in the National Security Council, said Clinton had stated ''on a number of occasions that the United States is prepared to do all it can to help, but that it is only able to do things in any kind of mediation process if both parties want the United States to be a player in this (peace effort).''

Before the start of the meeting, Clinton, in reply to questions by the media, said, ''The US can be effective in that (mediatory) role only when both parties want us to do so. There is no case in which we have injected ourselves into a dispute in the absence of the agreement of both sides, because otherwise, it does not work.''

Clinton said he ''would be happy'' to help India and Pakistan resolve their long-standing problems. If ''at any time there's anything I can do that both parties will agree to our doing, of course I will be happy to do it,'' he added.

The US president said he was ''very encouraged'' that India and Pakistan had resumed their direct talks. ''I think it's hopeful,'' he added.

Pakistan, Clinton told Sharief, would have to do more to give up the nuclear weapons path before the remaining military sanctions can be lifted. Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also asked Sharief to break off ties with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and co-operate more in nabbing Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind recent bombings at US embassies who is based in Afghanistan.

Sharief, who spoke to the media after his two hour-long luncheon meeting with Clinton at the White House, said he had stressed the need for ''effective US engagement in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and wishes of the people of Kashmir.''

He said he discussed regional security ''in the context of the long-standing internationally recognised problem of Kashmir as a root cause of tension and instability'' in the region.

He parried questions about President Clinton's response to his plea for the US mediation in the 50-year-old dispute, arguing that the two countries had failed to resolve their problems bilaterally, necessitating third party intervention.

Len Scensny, State Department spokesman for South Asian affairs, told Rediff On The NeT, the easing of sanctions, which were decided last month will allow the resumption of lending to the two countries by the US Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Trade and Development Agency. Washington now will also support multilateral development assistance to Pakistan from the World Bank, IMF and other agencies and allow Pakistani military officers to train in the United States.

Sharief is on his first official visit to the US capital as leader of a new nuclear nation, with hope to win back the Cold War-era status as a trustworthy ally. He brought some commitments not to precipitate the nuclear standoff, and seeks some US concessions as a price for them. After his meeting with Clinton, analysts claimed he received less than what he had hoped for.

Last week, an IMF team finalised a $ 5.5 billion bailout package for Pakistan, whose economy has been in a shambles since the imposition of international sanctions. As much as $ 4.5 billion out of the package, which will have to be approved by the IMF board in Washington, is expected to go toward repayment of old debts. And the remainder is estimated to be enough only to see the beleaguered nation through part of the next year.

Washington has been less forthcoming in aiding the Indian economy because, Scensny said, "The Indian economy is not in dire straits as Pakistan's."

Sanctions on supply of dual-use technology and commercial sale of weapons will, however, remain. The United States wants India and Pakistan to give up their quest for nuclear weapons and sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the treaty on fissile material production cut-off before these sanctions can be lifted. While Pakistan has been willing to agree to these demands, India has been bargaining hard to retain its nuclear status.

Scensny said the continuing rounds of talks between Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh have been positive, but Washington is unlikely to grant India the status of a nuclear-weapons state under the non-proliferation regime. "That will mean redrafting the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and we are not prepared for that," he said.

High on Sharief's agenda in Washington will be resumption of US conventional weapons aid to Pakistan, and pressuring India to allow international mediation on Kashmir. Scensny said if Sharief seeks US mediation on Kashmir, President Clinton would restate the known US position that Kashmir is a bilateral dispute to be settled by the two countries.

Since Washington has been claiming that Kashmir is the most likely point of the next nuclear conflict in the world, Pakistan hopes it can now convince the US of its need for arms aid to stand up to its big neighbour.

"We will definitely talk about restoration of military aid," Sharief told The Washington Post in an interview before leaving Islamabad. In an unveiled attempt at arm-twisting, Sharief told the Post: "In the face of a conventional military imbalance (with India), Pakistan will have to depend more on its nuclear capability. The ..... imbalance should be corrected."

Coinciding with Sharief's visit, the US administration moved close to resolving nearly a decade-long dispute over the 28 F-16 aircraft Pakistan has paid for but never took delivery following US sanctions over Islamabad's nuclear programme.

New Zealand has agreed to lease the F-16s and Washington hopes to partly reimburse Islamabad with the proceeds of the sale.

Pakistan ordered 60 F-16s in 1989 and paid $658 million for 28 of them when a congressional amendment in 1990 cut off all direct economic aid and military sales to Pakistan. While $ 157 million of the price was reimbursed, the United States now owes Pakistan $ 501 million. According to The New York Times, New Zealand will pay $ 105 million for leasing the aircraft -- which still leaves a large gap in the money owed to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Sharief's problems at home are expected to trail him in Washington. In a plan reminiscent of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's Washington visit last year, various Pakistani political parties, especially the Muttahida Quami Movement, and human rights organisations, are planning a protest rally in Washington during Sharief's visit to highlight various rights violations, "state terrorism and government corruption."

Additional reportage: UNI

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