DATE=3/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PAKISTAN / CLINTON SPEECH (L)
NUMBER=2-260598
BYLINE=SCOTT ANGER
DATELINE=ISLAMABAD
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton has ended a six-day tour of
South Asia by telling the Pakistani people there is no
military solution to Pakistan's dispute with India
over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. As V-O-A
correspondent Scott Anger reports from Islamabad, the
president says Washington will not mediate the Kashmir
dispute and urges both sides to reduce tensions
through negotiations.
TEXT: The dispute between Pakistan and India over
Kashmir dominated President Clinton's address to the
Pakistani nation. In a 15-minute speech broadcast on
state-run television, the president asked the two
countries to take steps toward building peace in the
region.
/// Clinton Act ///
For India and Pakistan, this must be a time of
restraint, for respect for the Line of Control
(cease-fire line) and renewed lines of
communication.
/// End Act ///
Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan,
has been a source of military tension between the two
countries since British India was partitioned --
creating Pakistan -- in 1947. The two countries have
fought two wars over Kashmir and came close to a third
last year. Both sides routinely fire at each other
with artillery across the cease-fire line that divides
region.
Mr. Clinton warned that an escalation in the dispute
will not help either country solve the issue.
/// Clinton Act ///
There is no military solution to Kashmir.
International sympathy, support and intervention
cannot be won by provoking a bigger, bloodier
conflict. On the contrary, sympathy and support
will be lost. And no matter how great the
grievance is, it is wrong to support attacks
against civilians across the Line of Control.
/// End Act ///
Mr. Clinton also advised Pakistan to redirect its
resources -- from building nuclear weapons to
improving the economic development of the impoverished
nation.
Pakistan became a nuclear capable state in 1998, after
it successfully tested nuclear devices as a response
to India's testing earlier the same year.
During his speech, the president warned that the
absence of democracy could lead Pakistan to increased
international isolation. The United States has been
urging Pakistan's military leader, General Pervez
Musharraf, to restore democracy as soon as possible.
The general has not offered a timetable for
Pakistan's return to civilian rule. The military
ousted the country's elected government in a bloodless
coup October 12th.
U-S officials say President Clinton's brief six-hour
visit to Pakistan produced no breakthroughs, but has
given both sides a clearer view of each other's
positions.
As a result of U-S anxieties about Mr. Clinton's
safety during the visit, security was extremely tight.
In an extraordinary move, the president arrived in
Pakistan, from India, aboard an un-marked executive
jet rather than his Air Force One Boeing 747 airliner.
Mr. Clinton's visit to Pakistan was the first by a U-S
president since the late Richard Nixon stopped there
in 1969. (SIGNED)
NEB/SA/JP
25-Mar-2000 09:52 AM EDT (25-Mar-2000 1452 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
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