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No pressure from US to resume talks

India's ambassador to the US, Naresh Chandra, today said the Clinton administration was not exerting any undue pressure on India to resume the 'Lahore process' immediately after the end of fighting in the Kargil sector of Kashmir.

Talking to reporters after a meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State Karl Inderfurth he said there was no impatience on the part of the United States on this count. The US had practical ideas as to how things would proceed after the restoration of the Line of Control, he added.

He said the mood in India at present was not conducive for the resumption of the bilateral dialogue with Pakistan which was initiated after Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharief in Lahore in February last. ''We have to have mutual trust for the dialogue which does not exist,'' he added.

The ambassador referred to the growing goodwill for the United States in India after its stand on Kargil. The US was aware of it. ''I expect that they will act in a fashion that this increase in goodwill is not frittered away,'' he added.

Asked whether the US agrees with India's condition for the resumption of talks that Pakistan should put an end to cross-border terrorism along with the restoration of the LoC, Naresh Chandra said: ''We should not minimise the concerns that the US has for international terrorism.''

He said the US had imposed sanctions on the Taliban regime last week because of Afghanistan's refusal to help in dealing with terrorism. Pakistan should read signals from the US action against its neighbour, he added.

UNI

The Kargil Crisis

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