WASHINGTON: The United States has said there is no change in its policy of supporting the unity and integrity of India, PTT reports.
This was conveyed to visit Indian Foreign Secretary S.K. Singh who met several top officials of the Bush administration on Friday.
S.K. Singh told reporters here that the U.S. officials had said known differences over the northernmost Indian state of Kashmir between India and Pakistan should be resolved peacefully and bilaterally in the spirit of the 1972 Shimla agreement.
The foreign secretary Friday met President Bush’s national security adviser general Brent Scowcroft, undersecretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz, undersecretary of state Robert Kimmitt, Senator Clairborne Pell, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee and senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former US ambassador in India.
S.K. Singh said that while he was in Moscow last month lot of things was happening in Kashmir and he had discussed the developments in the state with the Soviet government. That particular coincidence was what impelled him to come to Washington to brief the US government.
“I have had very satisfactory meetings, especially in the White House and the state department,” Singh said, adding that his talks at the Pentagon and with the senators were also very satisfactory.
Despite his coming here on a short notice and his being here only for one working day, the U.S. government he said, accommodated him by giving the maximum number of appointments.
“I think I have briefed our American colleagues and the U.S. government very comprehensively,” said Singh. “We discussed the Kashmir issue. We discussed the increasing tensions between India and Pakistan over the situation in Kashmir and agreed that this issue should be peacefully resolved. We also consulted on various issues of interest to both countries.”
Replying to questions, S.K Singh said Kashmir was a constituent part of the union of India and this was accepted by the whole world.
His talks in Washington, he said, were exactly on the same basis as those in Moscow. “I explained the problems there are the further problems that there can be in the area of peace and security. It is a matter of our wanting our friends to know what the dangers and apprehensions are, and to leave it at that.”
S.K. Singh said besides Kashmir various other matters of bilateral interest were also discussed. But he did not elaborate. Asked to comment on criticism by some as to why India should go to the U.S. or to China to explain an internal situation, Singh quoting India’s first premier Jawaharlal Nehru said “for the sake of peace and avoiding war we would talk to everyone. We are trying to inform and talk to as many major powers in the world as possible that the situation is dangerous.”
Article extracted from this publication >> February 9, 1990
