ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, 14 June — US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday India and Pakistan would have to resolve their problems among themselves and other countries can only offer help. He said he believed the danger of a nuclear confrontation between the two countries had passed.
“I’m not going to talk about nuclear weapons. I think the elevation of that subject (nuclear confrontation) is past us. Both of those (Indian and Pakistani) leaders are managing their affairs as people responsible for weapons of that power,” he said.
Rumsfeld said the United States had no evidence that Al-Qaeda militants were operating in Kashmir, but said he was confident Pakistan would deal with them if any were found.
Rumsfeld had raised the possibility over Al-Qaeda at a news conference in India on Wednesday, but said in Pakistan yesterday he had only heard “speculative” reports rather than hard evidence.
“The facts are I do not have evidence and the United States does not have evidence of Al-Qaeda in Kashmir,” he told a news conference after meeting Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf.
Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, President Musharraf’s press secretary, had earlier responded by saying that it was inconceivable that Al-Qaeda fighters could reach the tense cease-fire line.
Asked if he brought any message from India for Pakistani leaders, Rumsfeld said: “I do not talk about private conversations.”
“It has been a good visit. I think progress is indeed being made,” he said about his mission of pulling back the two south Asian nations from brink of war. Rumsfeld said the US and Britain can provide “technical people” to monitor the cease-fire Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar told the joint press conference that despite recent Indian moves aimed at defusing the crisis, the situation on the heavily militarized border remained dangerous.
Sattar added Pakistan needed more help from the United States in lowering down the threat of war.
“We expect more from the United States” he said, pointedly rephrasing a question posed by a reporter.
In the western Canadian ski resort of Whistler, foreign ministers from the world’s leading nations, vowing to maintain pressure on India and Pakistan, said on Wednesday a way must be found to ensure the fractious nuclear-armed neighbors settle their dispute over the province of Kashmir once and for all.
In New Delhi, Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Omar Abdullah ruled out yesterday the deployment of foreign troops on its territory to help flush out Al-Qaeda fighters.
