22 May 2002
U.S. Calls for Restraint by India, Pakistan
(State Dept. says arms will not resolve Kashmir issue) (2950)
State Department Deputy Spokesman Philip Reeker described the increase
of shelling across the line of control between India and Pakistan as
"a very worrisome development," and strongly called upon both sides to
exercise restraint.
"[A]rmed conflict can only add to the problems that divide these two
nuclear-armed neighbors. It's not going to solve any problems. And
that's why we think restraint, a reduction in violence is vital," said
Reeker.
Most importantly, said Reeker, was the need for dialogue between the
two countries, saying that "the surest way to lower tension and
resolve disputes is through dialogue."
Reeker also called upon Pakistan to "do all it can" to end the
infiltration of terrorist organizations into Kashmir.
The deputy spokesman said Secretary of State Colin Powell has
consistently been raising his concerns with both governments and with
U.S. allies, such as British Foreign Secretary Straw May 22 and
European Union High Minister Solana May 21.
Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage is "in regular contact with the
highest levels of both the Pakistani and Indian side," said Reeker,
and will be traveling to the region in the near future.
Reeker also echoed Secretary Powell's condemnation of the
assassination of Kashmiri separatist leader Abdel Ghani Lone May 21,
saying it was "obviously a direct attack on the hopes for a fair
political process in Kashmir."
"The act is deplorable. It was the murder of somebody who was trying
to use peaceful political means to resolve differences. And that was
clearly perpetrated by murderers who were opposed to peace," said
Reeker.
Following are excerpts from the May 22 State Department briefing with
Philip Reeker containing his comments on the situation between India
and Pakistan:
(begin excerpt)
QUESTION: I appreciate that you may not be the best person to ask
about this, but you're in a better place than I think I am or anyone
else in this room is. I understand that as the Secretary and the
President were winging their way to Europe, that the Secretary spoke
with Foreign Secretary Straw. Can you, if possible, give us a rundown
of maybe what they talked about, and specifically if they talked about
the situation between India and Pakistan?
MR. REEKER: I can not give you any particular rundown on that. The
Secretary did speak with Foreign Secretary Straw, which, as you know,
he does with some frequency on a number of topics. I think the
situation in South Asia certainly is one of the topics they have been
discussing lately.
Obviously it is a worrisome situation. As we have said before, we
think it is vital for all sides to exercise restraint and reduce
violence. It is important for India and Pakistan to resume a
productive dialogue over the issues that divide them, including
Kashmir. And so that's what we have continued to urge, and of course
we have been working closely with the British and with other allies
and interested parties in the international community to that end.
The Secretary mentioned it yesterday in his appearance with Mr.
Solana. That was one of the subjects they discussed. And so we'll
continue to discuss that, to continue to follow it closely, and to
continue supporting efforts to reduce tension, because it is really up
to the parties to
agree --
QUESTION: Is there anything you can say about Deputy Secretary
Armitage's planned visit to the region?
MR. REEKER: No. As you know, we have said that Deputy Secretary
Armitage will travel to the region in the near future. I don't have an
exact date or itinerary to announce at this point. The Secretary, as
well as other officials, have been remaining very engaged with their
counterparts in South Asia and with other allies, as I indicated. But
we will let you know once we have a better picture of the calendar on
these things.
QUESTION: Do you have any comment on Prime Minister Vajpayee's
remarks?
MR. REEKER: Well, I think the most important thing I can say from here
is what we have said before, and in fact what I just said, that it is
vital for all sides in Kashmir to exercise restraint, to reduce
violence. The shelling across the line of control in Kashmir has
recently increased. It is now heavy. We find this a very worrisome
development. We have repeatedly stated our strong concerns about the
potential for conflict between India and Pakistan and about the danger
of it spiraling out of control.
And I would reiterate once again that armed conflict can only add to
the problems that divide these two nuclear-armed neighbors. It is not
going to solve any problems. And that is why we think restraint,
reduction in violence is vital, and most importantly, a dialogue needs
to take place between these two neighbors. The surest way to lower
tension and resolve disputes is through dialogue. An important
component of the process, of course, is an end to infiltration into
Kashmir. We have said this before, and we continue to call upon
Pakistan to do all it can to achieve that objective.
And as I said already, we support efforts to reduce tensions. It is up
to the parties to the dispute to agree on any use of international
monitors to reduce tensions and avoid conflict. As I said, we remain
engaged on the subject. The Deputy Secretary will go there in the near
future, and we will continue to monitor this very closely.
QUESTION: After so many terrorist activities in Kashmir, now comes the
assassination of the most modern and well known Mr. Ghani Lone in
Srinagar. And that also undermines the peace process or free elections
and all that. So do you have any comments?
MR. REEKER: Well, I think you saw that yesterday Secretary Powell put
out a statement regarding that assassination. He expressed the fact
that he was saddened and angered when we learned of the assassination
of Abdul Ghani Lone, who was a Kashmiri political leader, who was
assassinated in Srinagar yesterday.
I don't believe we have seen any claim of responsibility for the
murder, but this was obviously a direct attack on the hopes for a fair
political process in Kashmir, and the killers are obviously among
those who are against peace and oppose a peaceful political resolution
there. It was a terrorist act that was designed to undermine the hopes
of the Kashmiri people for free and fair elections without violence.
And so I would go back to reiterating the points I made earlier about
the need for dialogue with all sides that are involved in Kashmir. But
we certainly condemn the crime that took place yesterday in the
strongest possible way, and we extend our condolences to Mr. Lone's
family and to the Kashmiri people.
QUESTION: Quick follow-up. You said Secretary's anger. Anger at what?
It means does he now acknowledge that there is terrorism against India
or against the Kashmiri people in Kashmir?
MR. REEKER: I think you have just heard the statement, you read the
statement -- exactly what the Secretary said. We were angered at the
--
QUESTION: Anger at what?
MR. REEKER: Angered at the assassination of this person, which was
clearly a terrorist act. Why don't you go back and listen to what I
said and what the Secretary's statements said yesterday?
QUESTION: So he is trying to find out where the terrorists are coming
and who is supporting them?
MR. REEKER: Again, I don't think we had seen any claim of
responsibility for that act. The act is deplorable. It was a murder of
somebody who was trying to use peaceful political means to resolve
differences and that was clearly perpetrated by murderers who were
opposed to peace. And again, the violence will not accomplish
anything; will only result in more death, more tension. We need to
focus on dialogue with all the parties involved to work towards a
peaceful resolution of problems there.
QUESTION: I don't want to be nit-picky, but if you don't know who the
killers were, how can you speak to their motives? You said it was
designed to hurt the prospects for peace.
MR. REEKER: I think that is fairly obvious in the assassination of a
figure of this magnitude -- what Mr. Lone was involved with. He was a
political leader who was clearly assassinated in Srinagar. And while
no one has claimed, to my knowledge, responsibility for the murder, it
was an attack upon the hopes for a fair political process in Kashmir.
This was a figure, a leader, who sought to achieve goals through
peaceful, democratic means, and courageously stood up to extremists.
And now he's been killed, and so we deplore that killing, we condemn
that crime, and we call upon all parties to pursue a dialogue, a
peaceful dialogue, to resolve their differences.
QUESTION: Britain has now decided to pull out its non-essential staff
from Pakistan, as well as family members. I know that the US has
already done that, but is there any thought being given to further
evacuations or departures?
MR. REEKER: We do understand that Britain is withdrawing some of its
diplomatic staff in Pakistan following an assessment of the internal
security environment and appraisal of their security posture. You will
recall, as you indicated, Teri, that this is similar to the ordered
departure of our personnel in Pakistan recently. We still have a
Travel Warning in place, clearly in effect for Pakistan, that
indicates the fact that we did pull out non-emergency personnel and
family members, as you are quite aware of.
Clearly there is security concerns in Pakistan. As our Travel Warning
notes, a journalist was kidnapped and executed there. A trial is
currently underway in that case. There was a bombing of a church
frequented by Westerners. And so I think we continue to monitor the
situation very closely. Our Embassy remains open with the decreased
staffing.
QUESTION: Is there anything you want to say on the Pearl situation?
MR. REEKER: I don't think I have anything particularly new on that,
but since we didn't meet yesterday -- as far as I know, Pakistani
authorities have not yet completed the forensic tests to identify the
human remains that were recovered last week that may be those of Wall
Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. I'm not sure how much longer
those tests will take, but we are in close touch with Pakistani law
enforcement officials who continue to investigate the kidnapping and
murder.
Our Consulate in Karachi and the Department are staying in touch with
Mrs. Pearl and Mr. Pearl's family to keep them informed of
developments, and we will just continue to see what news comes out of
there.
QUESTION: It does seem to quite a grave situation between India and
Pakistan. Has there been any other -- any contact with the parties
themselves at a high level in the last 24 hours or so? Has Mr.
Armitage been in touch with any of --
MR. REEKER: Our diplomats on the ground -- our Ambassador, the
President's personal representative in both countries is in regular
contact with the highest levels of both the Pakistani and Indian
sides. I don't have any other particular phone calls or contacts to
read out at this point.
QUESTION: Do you know whether Mr. Blackwill spoke to Mr. Vajpayee
today?
MR. REEKER: I don't. I would let our Embassy in New Delhi let you know
about those, as we usually do.
QUESTION: But there's nothing of Secretary Powell calling? He talked
to Musharraf the other day --
MR. REEKER: No. I mentioned that Secretary Powell had talked to
Foreign Secretary Straw --
QUESTION: Well, Straw. I mean, the Indian and Pakistani officials, I
mean.
MR. REEKER: If you let me finish the sentence, Barry, I could get to
that.
QUESTION: I just wanted to save you the time. I was just asking if --
I was following Jonathan. Has the Secretary of State spoken to Indian
or Pakistani officials?
MR. REEKER: Not since it was last reported to you.
QUESTION: Thank you. That's fine. I didn't mean to --
QUESTION: There appears to be a sense of complacency here in
Washington about this --
MR. REEKER: A sense of?
QUESTION: Complacency, a sense of complacency.
MR. REEKER: Complacency.
QUESTION: -- about the situation in the subcontinent, which everybody
agrees is so dangerous that it could -- there could be war, as we
talk, speak, now. Yesterday Michael Krepon, the president of the
Stimson Institute -- Center, he just returned from India last week. He
was in Srinagar. He met everybody. And he said yesterday -- told a
news briefing that unless the US Government involves itself at the
highest level in India and Pakistan, not at the level of Christina
Rocca, there absolutely is very little chance of preventing conflict.
But there appears to be -- even Mr. Armitage's visit, it is on now,
off again. So it's a kind of --
MR. REEKER: There is no on or off again with Mr. Armitage's visit, and
there is absolutely no complacency in viewing this. As I said at the
outset in response to your first questions, we view this with great
concern. We think there is a real worrisome development in the region
in terms of the shelling across the line of control, which has
increased. It is very heavy at this point. And we have been consistent
and raise our concerns about this at all levels.
The Secretary has addressed this publicly to you. He said that Deputy
Secretary Armitage will be going to the region. We don't have an exact
time for that. We are working closely with other allies. And as I
mentioned, the Secretary spoke to British Foreign Secretary Straw this
morning. One of the subjects was South Asia. I believe Foreign
Secretary Straw himself is going to be visiting there shortly. We have
been talking to other Europeans on the subject, and of course engaging
at the highest levels with our Pakistani and Indian counterparts.
So there is by no means any complacency. This is a serious situation
which is of concern to all of us, and we will continue to follow it
very closely. And again though, the important thing is that the two
sides and all those involved in the disputes need to pursue a
dialogue. They need to realize that violence or armed conflict will
not accomplish anything in this situation. It is not a solution. The
surest way to lower the tensions and resolve disputes is to have a
dialogue, and that is what we have been encouraging. We support
efforts to reduce tensions, and obviously the two parties need to work
at resolving their disputes.
So we will continue to be very much seized with the situation in South
Asia, watching it very closely.
-----
QUESTION: I wondered if you wanted to make something explicit that is
implicit. Way back, you said -- and you referred to Pakistan a second
later -- you called for an ending of infiltration of Kashmir. Who is
infiltrating? What kind of folks? Terrorists?
MR. REEKER: Clearly, there have been problems with terrorism in
Kashmir. We have groups, organizations that are listed on our list of
Foreign Terrorist Organizations that have been involved in Kashmir.
There has been violence there. We saw violence again yesterday with
the assassination of this moderate political leader. And so that is
something we have been discussing with Pakistan certainly, the need to
control infiltration into Kashmir. That is an issue we continue to
raise, that all sides need to exercise restraint. But we have called
on Pakistan to do all it can to achieve the objective of ending the
infiltration into Kashmir.
QUESTION: On that -- taking up that theme, the question arises
repeatedly of these --
QUESTION: Same question one more time?
QUESTION: No, this is a different question. How much control do the
Pakistanis authorities have over this infiltration?
MR. REEKER: I don't think I could give you a particular analysis of
that, Jonathan.
QUESTION: North Korea.
MR. REEKER: North Korea. We have another question here on South Asia.
QUESTION: Going back to reduction in the diplomatic staff and pullout,
is that also -- what all you mentioning was internal security problems
you mentioned. How about the shelling across the LOC and the tension
between India and Pakistan? Do you think that has contributed or is
contributing to pull out the staff or reduction in the diplomatic
staff?
MR. REEKER: You would need to ask the British about that.
QUESTION: How about US staff?
MR. REEKER: Well, you will recall that we announced our ordered
departure some time ago, and we made quite clear in our Travel Warning
the reasons for that.
QUESTION: More reduction on the way?
MR. REEKER: As I said to your colleague, I am not aware of any other
changes in our position in Pakistan.
QUESTION: What happens if the war goes in full scale?
MR. REEKER: Well, you are going off in a direction trying to predict
the future, and obviously we are looking at the future. What we are
focused on, Mr. Goyal, is encouraging the parties to have a dialogue
to avoid any more conflict.
QUESTION: What I'm asking really, if this consultation is on the way
or behind the scenes at the highest level --
MR. REEKER: What consultation is that?
QUESTION: As far as a war at full scale and --
MR. REEKER: I think I answered that about six times.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) -- with India, right?
(Laughter.)
MR. REEKER: I think we're descending here into something, so if anyone
has a serious question -- the gentleman in the back had a question.
Yes, sir.
(end excerpts)
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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