**OT** 'I am not going to mediate' - By Bill Clinton
US President Bill Clinton gives indiatimes.com a preview of the message he is carrying to South Asia. The US, writes Mr Clinton in an exclusive article, will strive for a strong, secure and united India, a return to democracy in Pakistan, and the economic development of Bangladesh.
This week, I am traveling to South Asia, to visit Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. In this article I want to discuss the reasons for my visit and what I hope to accomplish.
With one-fifth of the worlds people, with its traditions of democracy, with its embrace of economic openness and scientific progress, South Asia has the potential to be one of the worlds biggest success stories in the next half century. But it still faces enormous challenges -- and dangers. In no other region do so many critical issues converge so dramatically: promoting economic growth, expanding trade and easing poverty; averting regional conflict and preventing nuclear proliferation; defeating terrorism and fighting drugs; averting climate change and conquering infectious disease. I am convinced that strengthening peace, prosperity and freedom in the 21st century will depend in good measure on Americas ability to forge partnerships with South Asian nations, by advancing the interests we share and resolving the differences that remain........
indiatimes.com
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U.S. Gets No Help From Islamabad
Pakistani officials seem either unwilling or unable to clamp down on the guerrillas. The militants operate out of camps in Pakistani Kashmir and often cross into India under cover of Pakistani army artillery fire. When U.S. officials demanded earlier this year that Musharraf crack down on Harkat Ansar, he rebuffed them.
"The militants are too strong, and Musharraf knows he cannot challenge them," a Western diplomat said.
And so goes the cycle--Pakistani-backed infiltration followed by Indian riposte--that Clinton seems likely to try to break when he meets with Vajpayee and Musharraf.
In Talwani, a village in Indian Kashmir, Hindus and Muslims lived together for generations--until last month. It was then that a squad of pro-Kashmiri guerrillas slipped into the town at night, surrounded the Hindu homes and opened fire with machine guns. The gunmen killed four people, including an 8-year-old girl.
Now, there are no Hindus in Talwani. The last of them--about 30--packed up and moved south a few days after the massacre. And that story has been repeated countless times in Indian Kashmir as tens of thousands of Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims have fled their homes and moved to safer ground.
Things were a little different in Talwani, however: The Muslim villagers were angered and ashamed by the attack. They begged their Hindu neighbors to stay and offered to live in their homes to shield them.
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The Muslim villagers of Talwani say the militants these days are mostly foreigners who struggle with the local language. That appears to buttress a main contention of India's leaders--that the war in Kashmir is a struggle sustained by outside help.
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In Talwani, the villagers say they're glad Clinton is coming, and they are hoping that he can do something to bring peace to Kashmir. But the biggest topic in Talwani is not the U.S. president; it is their friends.
"The Hindus belong to this soil," said government clerk Ghulam Hussain, 60. "Our garden will not bloom with only one type of flower."
latimes.com |
