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US 'appreciates India's serious security concerns'

India has conveyed to the Bill Clinton administration its 'serious security concerns,' arising out of Pakistan's test-firing of medium-range Ghauri missile and its continued nuclear co-operation with China, hoping that these would reflect in the US's foreign policy towards the region.

Talking to the media at the weekend after a series of high-level discussions he had with the US officials, Indian Foreign Secretary K Raghunath said the US administration had appreciated and fully understood 'our concerns'.

Raghunath said the test-firing of the Ghauri missile, which is capable of carrying nuclear weapons, had proved what India had all along been saying that Pakistan had a long-term missile and nuclear weapons programmes and that Islamabad had not evolved its technology indigenously.

He said India had raised its concern first to US Permanent Representative in the UN, Bill Richardson who was in New Delhi recently. Therefore, the US side knew 'our position well'.

He said India had also made known to China that its continued co-operation with Pakistan in nuclear and missile programme was a matter of concern for the Indian security. Pakistan's arms build-up was directly aimed at India, he added.

Raghunath said he had also brought to the notice of the US authorities a recent report in an Indian newspaper that a US firm was helping Pakistan build a nuclear plant.

When his attention was drawn to the US state department's report on global terrorism which talked of ''credible report of official Pakistani support to terrorist groups'' in Kashmir, he said he had not seen the report. ''We will study it,'' he said. ''However, it is a good sign that a foreign country has supported what India had been saying all along.''

He said he had told the Clinton administration that the Vajpayee government would stick to India's policy of normalising relations with its neighbours, particularly Pakistan.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had made this fact known to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharief in a letter he had sent soon after he assumed office.

Raghunath said India wanted 'good normal relations' with Pakistan. In fact, this had been a very established element of 'our foreign policy'. India is also keen on exploring possibilities of having trade ties with Islamabad, he added.

Asked whether there was any new development on the Kashmir front, he said Pakistan had all along been insisting that Kashmir was a core issue in its relations with India. ''We have listened to their argument with which we do not agree and, we have made this known to the United States which understands our policy.''

The foreign secretary, during his day-long discussions, met acting Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering, President Bill Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Director John Holum.

Raghunath said his discussions with the US officials were part of the on-going 'strategic dialogue' that Pickering had initiated with India during his visit to New Delhi in October with the avowed objective of 'enhancing and deepening relations' between the two countries.

After Pickering's visit, several members of the Clinton administration, including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Richardson had visited India. Then prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral met Clinton in September during his visit to the United Nations.

He said the Indo-US dialogue had been widened, in the light of the demand of the changing times. This included bilateral relations, regional issues and the global perspectives of the two countries and their shared belief in democracy and rule of law.

Over the decade, there had been substantial improvement in the Indo-US relations, particularly in trade. For the first time, bilateral trade had crossed $ 10 billion mark.

According to observers, these parleys have acquired significance in the context of Clinton's declaration that his administration wanted to give greater importance to South Asia, particularly India -- the region America had neglected in the past -- in its foreign policy.

Raghunath said Clinton's forthcoming visit to India would give a boost to the relations between the two countries. Clinton is expected to be in New Delhi by the end of the year.

UNI

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