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| Friday, 25 April 2003 |
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Armitage to head to South Asia next month WASHINGTON, Thursday (AFP) US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will visit to India and Pakistan next month, hoping to profit from rising hopes for a breakthrough in the long struggle between the two bitter rivals, officials said. Armitage will also visit Afghanistan on the trip between May 5 and 11, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, a week after first details of the trip emerged, and hours after fresh information on the visit was released in Pakistan. A Pakistani official told AFP Armitage would arrive in Islamabad on May 9 after talks in New Delhi on May 8 with Indian leaders. Boucher said Armitage's itinerary was still being worked out. "We have a strong and continuing interest in our relationships with South Asian countries, and in promoting peace and stability in the region," said Boucher. Armitage's visit falls almost a year after he swung through both capitals at the head of an international diplomatic offensive to avert war between Pakistan and India. His shuttle diplomacy was credited with pulling the hostile neighbours back from the brink of a conflict many feared would spark the world's first nuclear exchange. In South Asia, a window of opportunity has emerged in recent days after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's weekend offer to hold talks with Pakistan. At the core of tensions is the Muslim-majority Himalayan state of Kashmir, split between Pakistan and India and claimed in full by both..Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha denied opposition charges that the government was acting under pressure from the United States in framing its foreign policy. "India does not act under pressure from any country and we will not be cowed down," Sinha said during a debate in parliament, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. "Without compromising on anything... national interest and principles, if we can build a great relationship with US, we will try and do so." Replying to opposition members, Sinha asked: "Did we carry out our nuclear tests in May 1998 or the missile tests under US pressure?" The US imposed sanctions on India after it carried out the nuclear tests. The minister, however, also said that "compulsive hostility" to Washington was not in India's interests. "Compulsive hostility to the US is a baggage we should leave behind." "This is not suited to our national interest," he added. He said India had focussed more in the past on differences with the US than on commonalities. The minister said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's government was building a strong relationship with Washington, based more on commonalities even though differences persisted on some issues, including Iraq. |
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