02 January 2002

U.S. Welcomes Efforts to Defuse Tensions Between India and Pakistan

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said today that Secretary of State Colin Powell is working closely with Indian and Pakistani leaders, as well as with U.S. ambassadors in the region, to try to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan. Boucher was briefing the press at the State Department on January 2.

"We are pleased to see that Pakistan and India continue to take steps to defuse the tensions between them," Boucher said.

"We'll continue to be active in working with both sides. We continue to have active diplomacy through our ambassadors on the ground, as well as directly from the Secretary of State," he said.

He added that "there does continue to be violence in Kashmir. There were some more attacks today, which we obviously condemn. And we continue to call for an end to violence there."

Following are excerpts from the January 2 State Department briefing.

Question: India-Pakistan. Can you say what the secretary has done over the last few days, any phone calls he might have made, and what the U.S. is doing to try and help the parties avert war?

Mr. Boucher: Okay. The secretary over this weekend had a number of conversations with Indian and Pakistani leaders. Since Friday he's talked to -- it looks like four times to President Musharraf, one, two, three times to Foreign Minister Singh, and they've kept in touch. But I think above and beyond that, we have worked very closely, the secretary's worked very closely with our ambassadors in the region.

Ambassador Blackwell, Ambassador Chamberlin have both been very active in terms of working to try to defuse tensions, try to encourage steps that will stop terrorism, that will stop extremism in the region, and that will satisfy the needs of both countries to be safe from terrorism. We are pleased to see that Pakistan and India continue to take steps to defuse the tensions between them.

Leaders of both countries have made conciliatory statements. Pakistan has continued to act against fundamentalist groups that are a threat to itself and its neighbors. Pakistan has arrested heads of organizations that have been engaging in terrorism; they've closed offices in Pakistan. They've arrested others who are intent on disturbing the peace. President Musharraf has made several important statements with regard to encouraging moderation, and we're confident that he will continue to show strong leadership against extremism.

We would also note the statement today -- I think it was today or yesterday -- by the Indian defense minister that Indian troops have been deployed to assembly areas and were not in battle positions in Kashmir.

So we do think that each of these countries are continuing to act responsibly in order to avoid a conflict. We continue to encourage them to resolve their differences through dialogue. We note that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meetings, the ministerial at this point, and then a summit at the end of the week, taking place in Kathmandu. The two foreign ministers are there now. So we would hope that the two governments would see this as an opportunity to make progress towards resolving their current differences and to lower tensions. We will continue to be active in working with both sides. We continue to have active diplomacy through our ambassadors on the ground, as well as directly from the secretary of State.

I would note, there does continue to be violence in Kashmir. There were some more attacks today, which we obviously condemn. And we continue to call for an end to violence there.