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To: Cynic 2005 who wrote (125926)	9/27/2001 10:21:23 AM
From: Cynic 2005	Respond to of 436258

Also this in WSJ: interactive.wsj.com --------------------------- September 27, 2001 India Fears U.S. Mood Shifts Toward Pakistan By ERIC BELLMAN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Advertisement NEW DELHI -- India is worrying that America's war on terrorism is reshaping one of the Bush administration's main Asian foreign-policy objectives prior to Sept. 11: improving its ties with India. With the U.S.'s warming toward Pakistan -- India's rival for the disputed territory of Kashmir -- Indian editorials, talk shows and chat rooms are buzzing with worries that the U.S. may take Pakistan's side in the decades-old border dispute. "Washington is not being sensitive enough, or perceptive enough," to India's concerns, said Amitabh Matoo, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University. "It's ironic that this could lead to a renewed period of estrangement between New Delhi and Washington." For now, the Indian government hasn't expressed concerns about the growing ties between the U.S. and Pakistan. India's External Affairs Ministry said Wednesday that the U.S. has told India there will be no change in Indo-U.S. relations despite Washington's wooing of Pakistan. But some observers are still concerned that the perceived shift toward Pakistan presages a return to a Cold War-era alliance in which the U.S. tended to support Pakistan in disputes with India. Both India and Pakistan view the American-led war on terrorism principally through the lens of Kashmir, the disputed northern Himalayan region that has been the site of numerous bloody battles between the two countries. The stakes in the region were raised in 1998, when both countries detonated nuclear devices. Officials in India and Pakistan are inclined to think that improved U.S. ties would mean Washington would take their side in the Kashmir dispute. Surendra K. Arora, of the foreign-affairs committee of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, said America's battle against terrorism will lead ultimately to closer ties with India and a better understanding of its position on Kashmir. President Bush has improved relations with India, ending decades of chilly ties that had their roots in the Cold War. His administration had been working toward easing economic sanctions, which were applied to both India and Pakistan after their nuclear tests. The president also was expected to visit the country in the next year or so. India, in turn, was one of the first countries to support President Bush's plan to develop a national missile-defense system. It was also one of the first to offer support for the U.S. war against terrorism. But once Pakistan offered its help, that country moved to center stage because of its long border with Afghanistan, the Taliban-controlled country that the U.S. says is sheltering the accused terrorist Osama bin Laden. India and its air bases are farther away from the action. That has made India nervous about its budding U.S. relationship. "A shadow is beginning to fall on ties between India and the United States," the Pioneer newspaper said in a recent editorial. The U.S. "might be thinking of the utility of Pakistan to destroy the Taliban," says M.G. Vaidya, spokesman for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu organization with ties to the party of India's prime minister. "But America should have a broader perspective." He says India, unlike the military-led Pakistan, is a democracy and is also struggling with terrorism within its borders, specifically, in Kashmir. India and Pakistan have fought several wars over the disputed territory, and India accuses Pakistan of funding militants there; Pakistan says it provides only moral support to what it calls freedom fighters. Kashmir itself is wracked with violence, and India wants to U.S. to include its problems in Kashmir in its war on terrorism. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. dropped economic sanctions against India and Pakistan. The U.S. has also indicated that it wants to abandon additional sanctions against Pakistan related to the coup in 1999 that brought President Pervez Musharraf to power. Some defense analysts say it may be difficult right now for the U.S. to get too close to India, which some Islamic groups see as hostile to Muslims. Hindu-majority India and the Islamic state of Pakistan were born a half century ago amid bloody communal violence. Write to Eric Bellman at eric.bellman@awsj.com.