DATE=3/24/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON-PAKISTAN ONITER (L) (CQ)
NUMBER=2-260567
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=MUMBAI, INDIA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton -- after a five-day, five-
city visit to India - makes a brief stop in Islamabad
Saturday for talks on Kashmir and the South Asian arms
race with Pakistan's military leader, General Pervez
Musharraf. It is the first visit to Pakistan by a U-S
President since 1969. V-O-A's David Gollust reports
from the Indian city of Mumbai.
TEXT: Bowing to Indian objections, Mr. Clinton says he
is not going to Islamabad to try to mediate the
volatile Kashmir dispute.
But he says he will make the same appeal to General
Musharraf that he made to Indian leaders: for
restraint, dialogue between the South Asian rivals,
and respect for the line of control in Kashmir.
The president is due to spend less than six hours in
Islamabad in a reflection of U-S displeasure over the
military coup in Pakistan last October.
Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said
the decision to go -- which followed a lengthy debate
in Washington -- is aimed at keeping a direct channel
open with Pakistan at a time of high tension in the
region, and is in no way an endorsement of the
overthrow of civilian rule:
/// Berger Act ///
While we disapprove of the way in which
democracy was overturned in Pakistan and would
seek an early return to democracy as well as
other steps from the Pakistani government, it is
better for the United States and better for the
region for us to maintain a line of
communication with the government of Pakistan
during a particularly difficult time.
/// End Act ///
General Musharraf Thursday set dates for local
elections across the country next year. But Mr.
Berger says the president will press him for an early
restoration of elected rule at the national level as
well.
Mr. Clinton will also stress U-S support for a return
to democracy in an unusual 15-minute television
address to the Pakistani people after meeting General
Musharraf and Pakistani President Rafiq Tarar.
The White House asked for the time on Pakistani state
television, and also requested that the talks be held
at the office of President Tarar -- an elected
holdover from the civilian government -- rather than
at General Musharraf's headquarters.
Aides say Mr. Clinton will urge Pakistan, as he did
India, to curb the South Asian nuclear arms
competition by -- among other things -- signing the
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Mr. Berger says the president will also argue that
continuing the Kashmir confrontation and arms race
with India threatens to bankrupt Pakistan, and that
the United States does not want to see the country
fail.
After leaving Pakistan, Mr. Clinton will meet Oman's
leader, Sultan Qaboos, during a refueling stop in
Muscat, and then fly on to Geneva, where he meets
Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad Sunday in a bid to re-
start Syrian-Israeli peace talks. (Signed)
NEB/DAG/JP
24-Mar-2000 12:57 PM EDT (24-Mar-2000 1757 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
