Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: www.expressindia.com
Date: November 27, 2002
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=17135
The United States believe that Jammu
and Kashmir is a "disputed territory" and it must be "resolved through
negotiations", between India and Pakistan keeping in view the wishes of
Kashmiri people, despite the "ongoing infiltration by militants" into Indian
territory, a paper on India-US relations released in Washington says.
The paper prepared by the Congressional
Research Service (CRS), an arm of the Library of Congress, which guides
Congress, says "The longstanding US position on Kashmir is that the whole
of the former princely state is disputed territory."
"The whole issue must be resolved
through negotiations between India and Pakistan, taking into account the
wishes of the Kashmiri people," it says.
"In late October, State Department
Director for Policy Planning (Richard) Haass met with senior Indian ministers
and urged New Delhi to initiate negotiations with Pakistan despite ongoing
infiltration by separatist militants into Indian-held Kashmir," the paper
says.
It says, "Tensions rooted in unfinished
business from the 1947 Partition, and competing claims to the former princely
state of Kashmir."
The paper, released two weeks before
the arrival of India's National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra, presumably
to protest against US double standards on terrorism, gives this rationale
for ignoring Pakistani terrorist infiltration.
"The United States also seeks to
prevent the regional proliferation of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles,"
the CRS paper says.
US policy analysts, it says, "Consider
the continuing arms race between India and Pakistan as posing perhaps the
most likely prospect for the future of nuclear weapons.
"India is believed to have enough
plutonium for 75 or more nuclear weapons. Pakistan may have enough enriched
uranium for 25 nuclear weapons, although some reports suggest that Pakistan
may have an arsenal that is larger than India's."
Aside from security concerns, says
CRS, "The governments of both countries are faced with the prestige factor
attached to their nuclear programme and the domestic unpopularity of giving
them up."
The paper acknowledges that after
the September 9/11 terrorist attacks, "India took the unprecedented step
of offering to the United States all cooperation and the use of India's
bases for the war on terrorism. The offer reflected the sea change that
has occurred in recent years in the US-India relationship."
It notes that India and the US have
agreed to continue discussions on outstanding nuclear nonproliferation
differences and to engage in civilian space cooperation.
CRS notes that "India has accepted
the US proposal to deploy sensors and monitors on its side of the LoC (Line
of Control) to monitor infiltration."
The CRS paper says the BJP is "the
political arm of the extremist Hindu organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Singh," which was "allegedly responsible" for Ayodhya mosque incident.
"Factors that kept the BJP in power,"
says CRS, "included Vajpayee's personal popularity, early popular euphoria
over India's April 1998 nuclear tests, and the feeling that, after the
lackluster performance by Congress and united Front governments, the BJP
should be given its chance to lead the country."
Observers attribute the Congress
party's poor showing, it says, to a number of factors, "Including the perception
that current party leader Sonia Gandhi lacked the experience to lead the
country, the failure of Congress to make strong pre-election alliances
(as had the BJP) and the splintering of Congress in Maharashtra state."
The BJP "advocates 'Hindutva' or
an India based on Hindu culture.' much of its support comes from professionals
and upper caste groups," the paper says.
