Boucher gets one past his Indian tormenter
WASHINGTON: State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, who is not
without a
sense of humour though he employs it sparingly, got one past one of his
tormenters, an Indian-American correspondent who has a well-established
reputation here for hostile questions about Pakistan.
On Tuesday, after Boucher had spoken at some length about the visit of
Richard Boucher to Pakistan, Afghanistan and some other countries and
why he
was going there, the correspondent caught the briefer’s eye and lodged
the
following convoluted query, “What were the plans? Have India told them
in
New York at the United Nations that we will talk to Pakistan only if
and
when they will stop terrorism or infiltrations into Kashmir? General
Musharraf told me that they are really supporting Kashmiris, but they
will
stop only when India will talk to us. And now, finally, President Bush
in
his speech said there was an increase in cross-border terrorism. So how
can
we solve this? And what can the US do to solve this problem? Because
now
everybody knows that there is a terrorism increase, and they (Pakistan)
are
supporting and that’s what India is saying.”
Boucher’s one-line answer, delivered with a straight face, was, “Slow
down.
It sounds like you’ve talked to everybody, so you’ve got the whole
story.
You don’t really need me.” —KH |
