dawn.com
Islamabad wins key support in Washington: Timor-like UN envoy on Kashmir
*The CIA should gather intelligence from INDIA and pass it on to the senators, before the senators endorse a plan on Kashmir. Any further vivisection of INDIA will bring on communal riots, resulting in death and destruction. Neither the Indian Govt nor the Military can stop it.. I shiver to think about it. Example: deaths during primary partition of India, Deaths while Indira Gandhi was killed by her own body guards.
The US senate will be a mere passive observer of these deaths
MORALLY OUTRAGED US SENATORS SHOULD SEND AN ENVOY TO TIBET. OF COURCE CHINA DOES NOT GIVE A HOOT
*Pakistan is grabbing at straws. India is NOT BOUND to receive UN envoy. Assuming India receives UN envoy, India is not bound to be dictated to, by the envoy.*
By Shaheen Sehbai
WASHINGTON, Sept 27: Pakistan has won the support of two very important US senators, including Jesse Helms, the chairman of the all-powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for its demand to appoint a special UN envoy for Kashmir, like East Timor.
*Pacification of Pakistanis and cosmetics*
The other key figure who has now signed the letter addressed to President Clinton, demanding the envoy's appointment, is Senator Patrick Monyihan of New York, a close friend of the Clinton family, now working for election of
Hillary Clinton as senator from New York.
*When it comes to Kashmir, no power on earth can change the present borders*
Officials said the letter was expected to be despatched to President Clinton on Tuesday and could become a major landmark towards a shift in the US position on Kashmir.
*Pseudopanic by Indian Lobby to fool the Pakis*
The Indian lobby in Washington is almost in panic about the implications for the Kashmir cause following Helms signature to the pro-Pakistan letter circulating at the Capitol Hill since end of July, now signed by 16 senators and 42 members of the House of Representatives.
*More pseudopanic spread by news media*
This panic was reflected in a Times of India report from Washington which said: "With such a heavyweight and bi-partisan panel of names on both lists...the two letters signify a stunning setback to Indian lobbying efforts at the
Hill."
Senator Helms has shown time and again that he can veto almost any foreign policy initiative of the Clinton Administration, including the all-important ratification of the CTBT and appointment of several key officials and
ambassadors.
*Scare crows on the horizon; no real threat*
Although the State Department has repeatedly denied support to the move for a special envoy, the Indians are scared that Helms and Monyihan are such towering figures who can reshape administration policies on their own.
Most of the 16 senators and 42 congressmen have signed the joint as well as separate but identical letters addressed to President Clinton in which they have warned that "Kashmir is the most dangerous nuclear flashpoint in the world today".
How much power the US senators have in swaying India's decision
* Zilch*
The Times of India said the much speculated pro-Pakistani letter, also seeking strengthened role of UN Military Observers Group at the LoC, "have gained such supple momentum that several powerful senators and representatives have, in fact, endorsed the letter".
*More optimism, less realism*
The paper said, "The aftermath of Kargil appears to have left Pakistan's backers unfazed. Instead they seem to have dusted themselves off and launched a carefully coordinated and well-funded lobbying effort resulting in this extraordinary result..."
The list of signatories includes as many as seven members of the powerful House International Relations Committee and besides Senators Helms and Brownback from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Senate joint letter also includes Paul Coverdell, the Atlanta Republican often tipped to
replace Helms as the chairman of the committee, and Robert Torricelli, the New Jersey Democrat who is a tenacious supporter of Islamabad.
*Repercussions in India , if Kashmir becomes independent or torn off , will be of monumental proportions, never before thought of. - I don't want to even think about it. People will take matters on their own hands . Not even the Indian Military can stop it.*
The letters interestingly have the signatures and endorsements of several prominent supporters of India on the Hill. Even Jesse Helms has in the past two years been an enthusiastic India backer.
*If US senators are morally outraged, they should consider sending AN ENVOY to TIBET. Of course, CHINA DOES NOT GIVE A HOOT*
He is deeply suspicious of Chinese strategic ambitions and has been sympathetic to Indian apprehensions in this regard.
The Times of India said: "For the veteran senator to have attested his signature is a curious about-turn...it can only be surmised that senators like Helms, Moynihan, Coverdell, Harry Reid, John Chafee have not been effectively briefed." |
