NEW DELHI, 12 September 2003 — Senior US official Christina Rocca yesterday reassured India that Washington would press Pakistan to end its support for Islamic militancy in divided Kashmir, while denying she was here to pressure New Delhi into send soldiers to Iraq.
“The US will stand by India in its battle against terrorism just as India has stood with the United States” in its fight against terrorism after the September 11 suicide attacks, she told a business conference.
“I can also reassure you that the issue of cross-border infiltration remains a very important issue on our agenda with Pakistan,” said Rocca, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia.
“Combating terrorism is in the interest of Pakistan and we hope to encourage them in this,” said Rocca.
She also warned that Pakistan had not “yet safely escaped the dangers of serious crisis on multiple fronts.”
“Pakistan is a country in the midst of a major political, economic and ideological transformation,” said Rocca.
“It must be assisted to achieve a soft landing that corrects disturbing internal trends, realigns its direction as a moderate Muslim state and defeats definitively all terrorism emanating from its soil.”
“We believe that Indians should welcome such assistance and I know that many do.”
She stressed that she was not in New Delhi to press the Indian government to send soldiers to Iraq as part of an international stabilization force, as the local media reported yesterday.
“Contrary to the headlines in your newspapers I am not here to put any pressure on the government for troops in Iraq. I am here as part of an ongoing bilateral and regional dialogue,” said Rocca.
“The United Nations Resolution is under negotiation. We have a ministerial meeting in Geneva so we are right in the middle of things,” she said.
According to US Embassy sources Rocca had a “series of productive” meetings on Wednesday with Indian foreign office officials including Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal where the situation in Iraq was discussed, including India’s role in the reconstruction process.
India on July 14 rejected a US request to send 15,000 to 20,000 troops to Iraq but said it would reconsider if there were an explicit UN mandate. Washington has since proposed a UN resolution to send a multinational force to Iraq.
France, Germany and Russia — which all opposed the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein — have expressed reservations about the UN draft resolution.
