DATE=6/23/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDIA / UNITED STATES (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263681
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=NEW DELHI
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United States Ambassador to India says he
is encouraged by the prospect of talks in Kashmir
between separatists and the Indian government. V-O-
A's Jim Teeple reports the U-S envoy also says he
hopes India and Pakistan will resume their suspended
dialogue.
Text: Ambassador Richard Celeste says he expects
India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will visit
Washington within the next few months.
Speaking to journalists in New Delhi, Mr. Celeste says he
is encouraged by India's release of several leading Kashmir
separatist political leaders from detention. The U-S
diplomat says any political solution in Kashmir must take
into account the wishes of the Kashmir people. /// OPT ///
Divided between India and Pakistan, Kashmir has been the
flashpoint of two previous wars between the two neighbors.
///END OPT ///
Kashmir separatists have been fighting Indian security
forces for more than a decade. India routinely
accuses Pakistan of being behind the violence -
something denied by Islamabad. While he says he is
encouraged by what appears to be an opening on
Kashmir, Mr. Celeste says it is too early to say
whether that could lead to a broader easing of
tensions between India and Pakistan. He says that
probably will not happen unless Pakistan does more to
ease India's security fears.
/// CELESTE ACTUALITY ///
For the government of India to move forward it
needs more than simply a profession of interest
at talks from the other side. It needs some
concrete evidence that there is a willingness to
reduce violence - in order for talks to take
place in an atmosphere in some degree of
confidence, or hope or expectation.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
/// OPT /// Mr. Celeste says it is up to India and
Pakistan themselves to decide if they want to live in
peace with each other. The United States, he says, is
in no position to determine when and where a
dialogue should take place but he says a good place to
start is with the 1999 Lahore declaration - in which
both countries agreed to ease tensions following their
nuclear tests a year earlier. /// END OPT ///
As far as U-S relations with India are concerned,
Ambassador Celeste says he is still surprised by what
he describes as the lasting goodwill generated by
President Clinton's visit to India in March.
Mr. Celeste says U-S investors are eagerly awaiting a
second generation of economic reforms in India, and he
predicts U-S investors will spend more than one
billion dollars in India's insurance sector -- once it
is partially opened to foreign investors later this
year. (Signed)
neb/jlt
23-Jun-2000 08:10 AM EDT (23-Jun-2000 1210 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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