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Rocca asks India to 're-engage' with Pakistan

Aziz Haniffa in Washington

Saying the incidence of cross-border infiltration across the Line of Control into Jammu and Kashmir is significantly down and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has stuck to his commitment to the United States to halt such incursion, the US has called on New Delhi to re-engage with Islamabad.

Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca in a meeting with journalists at the state department Tuesday, said, "We've felt that the infiltration has gone down and I think President Musharraf has made the commitment and that he's abiding by his commitment."

But she acknowledged that there is some infiltration 'still going on and is an issue of some concern, [and] it's one that we continue to talk to Pakistan about'.

Rocca said, "It's something we'll like to come to an end, whether it's not simultaneously or not I don't know."

But she argued that now with the announcement of demobilisation of troops by both sides, 'what we'd like to see now is and atmosphere created whereby dialogue is a possibility and a move toward that and I am sure we'll see India and Pakistan move toward that goal'.

Rocca said it was certainly a relief that the troops that were massed on the border 'eyeball to eyeball' were being withdrawn 'because this was something we viewed as a real threat to regional security and stability'.

"Specifically," she asserted, "it was something we thought was a danger to both countries and this was sort of putting both countries fate in the hands of terror."

Rocca said, "Any spark -- you know this was the spark effect that so many people were talking about -- a serious terrorist act by any independent group trying to undermine regional stability, this sort of fed into that and created and improved the chances for war, which is one thing that neither country would have benefited from."

She reiterated that infiltration was down and it was now imperative that an atmosphere be created 'where countries want to talk to each other because ultimately there can't be a resolution of the problem without real dialogue'.

"And if you look at the annals of history," Rocca said, "the way you reach and agreement is by talking to each other, not by not talking to each other. So this is obviously something we encourage and that we want to see happen."

Rocca also disputed the contention that the US seemed to have such a 'comfort level' with Musharraf's military regime and its acquiescence to be its frontline ally in the war against terrorism that it was not 'turning the screws' on Musharraf to return Pakistan to a real democracy.

She said, "You can have a democracy in Pakistan and conduct a war against terrorism. They are not mutually incompatible."

Rocca said the recent election in Pakistan was being viewed by Washington 'as the beginning of a transition toward democracy'.

Complete Coverage of the Indo-Pak Standoff

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