NEW DELHI: The Three visiting US Senators on Dec.13 deliberately steered clear of the controversy about whether the statement by US Assistant Secretary of State MS., .Robi Raphel questioning Kashmir’s accession to India represented the official Kashmir policy of the Clinton Administration.

Despite persistent questioning at a Press Conference in New Delhi, the nearest presspersons came to Setting a statement out of them was a response by Senator Hank Brown that in his opinion Ms. Raphel’s remark represented “her personal opinion.”

Like his colleagues, Senators Hank Brown and Thad Cochran, Senator Pressler too refused to specify his or the Clinton Administration’s views on Kashmir. Instead he maintained that India and Pakistan could iron out their differences better if they laid emphasis on wade and “free market.”

However, asked if it was true that he told the Indian prime Minister on Saturday that Ms.Raphel’s controversial statement was her personal view and not that of the Clinton Administration, Senator Brown deepened the ambiguity by saying that his observation was not an official version but that it was his “personal understanding of Ms.Raphel’s statement.” Refuting “rumors” that the Senators had a formula for the de-escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan, Senator Brown clarified that they “are not here to tell (India and Pakistan) how to resolve problems.” Interestingly, throughout the conference the accent of the visitors was on the optimistic outlook for Indus economic relations. Mr. Cochran envisaged that India and the US have entered “a new era of close. Manually beneficial relations.” Complementing the Narasimha Rao government on its economic reforms, Mr. Cochran, who serves on several important Senate committees hike Appropnations and Agriculture, said that India and the US had “mutual interests” in several areas including peacekeeping S&T, space, nonproliferation terrorism.

As if determined to please the hosts, Mr. Pressler added that he is convinced that “India is on the verge of an explosion in economic activity” and that he saw a “revolution in (India’s) economic progress.” The Senators, who unapologetically arrived 45 minutes late to the Press conference, were apparently delayed at their meeting with Foreign Minister Dinesh Singh. They left for Islamabad on a special aircraft later in the day. According to officials from Islamabad, Pakistan will make a fresh attempt to change the perception about its nuclear program to Mr. Pressler. APP said that during the visit, the delegation would discuss the entire gamut of Pak US relations with Pakistani authorities besides regional issues concerning both sides with special reference to Nuclear Nonproliferation and suspension of American economic and military assistance to Islamabad.

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 24, 1993