Author: George Gedda,
Associated Press Writer
Publication: The Los
Angeles Times
Date: September 15,
2000
WASHINGTON--President
Clinton and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, intent on improving
U.S.-Indian relations, are tackling a main point of disagreement: India's
nuclear weapons policies.
After a ceremonial welcome
on the White House South Lawn, featuring a 19 -gun salute, Vajpayee planned
a 40 -minute private talk with Clinton on Friday followed by an additional
30 minutes accompanied by top aides from both sides.
The two leaders canceled
plans for an afternoon news conference at the request of the prime minister's
staff, the White House said. "It has been very long trip, an exhausting
trip for the prime minister and they felt that the last event of the day,
the press conference, was a little bit too much,' presidential spokesman
Joe Lockhart said.
Clinton has called the
South Asian region "perhaps the most dangerous place in the world," a reference
to the hostile relations India maintains with its nuclear-armed neighbors,
Pakistan and China. India has had three wars with Pakistan and one
with China.
Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright said Thursday that regional security concerns would be discussed
at the White House meeting and that it was important that both Pakistan
and India maintain their moratorium on nuclear testing.
The two countries caused
alarm here when they carried out nuclear tests in May 1998. The administration
has been urging both to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to exercise
restraint in other ways.
Vice President Al Gore
was flying to Washington from New York for a luncheon meeting at the State
Department with Vajpayee that was to take place after Gore addressed a
gathering at Howard University.
Vajpayee talked by telephone
with Texas Gov. George W. Bush not long after arriving on U.S.
soil on Sept. 7. He departs Sunday.
Members of Congress praised
Vajpayee's remarks Thursday before a joint session of senators and House
members. He said that after long years of strained ties with Washington,
"the dawn of a new century has marked a new beginning in our relations."
But a number of human
rights and religious rights groups used the occasion of Vajpayee's visit
to highlight alleged abuses in India.
Human Rights Watch expressed
concern about "widespread caste violence and discrimination, violence against
the country's religious minorities and abuses by Indian security forces
in Kashmir," the Himalayan territory that is shared by India and Pakistan
and which is at the core of the Indo-Pakistani dispute.
Amnesty International
said Indian troops are partly to blame for occurrences of "torture, deaths
in custody, disappearances and political killings in Kashmir."
William Schulz, executive
director of the group, said, "President Clinton must use this opportunity
to seek meaningful improvements in human rights in India."
On Thursday, Clinton
told reporters that the two nations "need to have a better and closer and
more constructive relationship," and that he hoped the United States could
help end the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.
"If you look at how well
the Indians, the Pakistanis and the Bangladeshis who have come to America
have done -the extraordinary percentage of them who are involved in high-tech
economy professions -it is tragic to think what this conflict has done
to hold back the people."
