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Clinton acknowledges difficulty in normalising Indo-Pak ties

C K Arora in Washington

US President Bill Clinton has acknowledged the difficulty involved in the process of normalising relations between India and Pakistan, saying that he cannot force a settlement on the two countries.

''That's why I say because of their relationships with Russia and China, we need their help as well,'' he said. ''And so far, the Russians and the Chinese have been very helpful to me in trying to work out a policy that we can pursue. But I'm working on it,'' he added.

He was replying to a question at a meeting of Democratic campaign supporters at Aspen in Colorado on Sunday about his inviting Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharief to find a settlement to the disputes between the two countries.

''Believe me, if I thought it would work, I would do it tomorrow, and I will continue to explore every conceivable option,'' he added.

The president said the May nuclear testing carried out by India and Pakistan had ''awakened the West -- and Americans, in particular -- to the idea that a lot of our children's future will depend on what happens in the Indian subcontinent.''

He said he had spent ''a lot of time'' on trying to find ways to get the two nations to improve relations. ''And I'm still hopeful that before the year is over, we'll be able to put them back on the right path towards more constructive relations.''

He spoke about the importance to the world of India and Pakistan in a question-and-answer session that followed his speech.

After his speech, Deputy White House Press Secretary Barry Toiv told the media that a Clinton trip to India and Pakistan that had initially been planned for the end of this year ''is still under review.''

A transcript of the question-answer session:

Mr President, I've got a question about foreign policy. Do you have any concern about India and Pakistan, South Asia. What's happening over there? And what kind of leadership role you can take to bring peace over there, or even float the idea of creating an independent country of Kashmir, because that's the biggest problem there -- what can you do about it?

Clinton: Well, one of the problems we've had -- I thought -- I actually feel bad about this because I had a trip set up for the fall to India and Pakistan. And in 1993, when I took office, I got all of our people -- actually, before I took office -- and I said, let's look at the major foreign policy challenges this country faces and figure out how we're going to deal with them and in what order. And as you might imagine, we went through West Asia and Bosnia, and then we had Haiti on the list. We went through the idea that we had to build a trade alliance with Latin America, that we needed a systematic outreach to Africa, that the big issues were how were Russia and China going to define their future greatness and could we avoid a destructive future. And we worked hard on that.

But I told everybody at the time, one of the things that never gets in the media in America is the relationship between India and Pakistan and what happens on the Indian subcontinent.

So I had planned to go there with plans to try to help resolve the conflicts between the two countries. One big problem is India steadfastly resists having any third party -- whether it's the United States or the United Nations or anybody else -- mediate on Kashmir. It's not surprising. India is bigger than Pakistan, but there are more Muslims than Hindus in Kashmir -- the same reason that Pakistan, on the flip side, is dying to have international mediation because of the way the numbers work.

What I think we have to do is to go back to find a series of confidence-building measures which will enable these two nations to work together and trust each other more and to move back from the brink of military confrontation and from nuclear confrontation. And Indians always say they're building nuclear power because of China being a nuclear power and the border disputes they've had with China. And, oh, by the way, we happen to have this Pakistani problem.

So I have spent a lot of time on that, even though it hasn't achieved a lot of notoriety in the press. And I'm still hopeful that before the year is over, we'll be able to put them back on the right path toward more constructive relations. I mean, India, interestingly enough, is a democracy just as diverse, if not more diverse, than America. Almost no one knows this. But most -- most, but not all -- minorities groups in India live along the borders of India in the north.

And it would be I think, a terrible tragedy if Hindu nationalism led to both estrangement with the Muslim countries on the border and the minorities-- Muslim and otherwise-- within the borders of India, and when India's democracy has survived for 50 years under the most adverse circumstances conceivable and is now, I believe, in a position to really build a level of prosperity that has not been possible before.

I feel the same thing with the Pakistanis. I think if they could somehow -- they're much more vulnerable to these economic sanctions than the Indians are. If they could somehow ease their concerns which are leading to such enormous military expenditures and put it into people expenditures, we could build a different future there. I don't know if I can do any good with it, but I certainly intend to try because I think, whether we like it or not, I think that the one good thing that the nuclear tests have done is that they have awakened the West -- and Americans, in particular -- to the idea that a lot of our children's future will depend on what happens in the Indian subcontinent.

UNI

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