*EPF510 01/18/2002
Transcript: Powell Optimistic About Peaceful Solution
(Presented diplomatic approaches to Indian government) (2940)
Secretary of State Colin Powell concluded his visit to India after pursuing diplomatic solutions to its crisis with Pakistan. Powell said, "I leave here very encouraged that we can find a solution to this troubling situation."
Speaking January 18 with Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh in New Delhi, Powell said he was pleased by recent statements and actions by the Pakistani government.
"[W]e have seen some important words said and important actions taken, and if we continue to see progress in that regard, then I expect we will see steps taken on the part of the Indian Government," Powell said.
Powell expressed the solidarity of the American people with India following the December 13 terrorist attack upon the Indian parliament, calling it "a horrific event that shocked the entire world and caused us all to rededicate ourselves to the proposition that terrorism must be destroyed."
When asked about the ideas he presented to the Indian government to ease the current tensions, Powell replied that various approaches were discussed.
"[W]e discussed various ideas in several baskets, I will call them. One basket might be the rhetoric and language that is used on both sides in this time of tension. The second basket might be to examine the various diplomatic and political steps that have been taken in the course of the four and a half weeks since the 13th of December. And then finally, ways to consider de-escalating from the military steps that have been taken," said Powell.
Powell also expressed his hope that India and Pakistan were coming closer to resuming a peaceful dialogue to solve their differences. "But," cautioned Powell, "it will take action, further action before we can really start walking down that path more aggressively."
Indian Foreign Minister Singh said it was necessary, first and foremost, to improve mutual confidence between India and Pakistan.
"[R]eally the most important aspect now, today, or even later, is the earliest restoration of mutual confidence between the two countries. Once confidence is restored between the two countries, everything else will fall in place and will then become so much easier to act upon," said Singh.
Powell departed India January 18 for Nepal. From there, he will travel on to Tokyo to participate in the January 21-22 conference concerning the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Following is a transcript of Secretary Powell and Foreign Minister Singh:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman
January 18, 2002
JOINT PRESS AVAILABILITY WITH SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL AND INDIAN FOREIGN MINISTER JASWANT SINGH New Delhi, India
2:08 a.m. EST
FOREIGN MINISTER SINGH: ... the Government of India for the courtesy of his visit to us. I would have hoped that it was a longer visit, that he had stayed for longer, but he and I belong to a trade where leisure is absent. So (inaudible) answer the issues that confront us today.
Mr. Powell.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister, Jaswant, my friend. I want to thank you for your hospitality in receiving me, and I agree with you that I had a most productive morning, especially my meeting with the Prime Minister. In that meeting I was able to against express our solidarity with the Indian people over the events of the 13th of December, a horrific event that shocked the entire world and caused us all to rededicate ourselves to the proposition that terrorism must be destroyed wherever it exists in the world. And as you know, this has been the hallmark of President Bush's campaign against terrorism.
I was also encouraged by my conversations with Foreign Minister Singh and Mr. Mishra and the Prime Minister that we can continue to pursue aggressively the diplomatic track as a way of bringing an end to the current tense situation that exists between India and Pakistan. We exchanged a number of ideas as to how we can move forward, and I leave here very encouraged that we can find a solution to this troubling situation. And so I thank you, my colleague, for your courtesy in receiving me and welcome questions from the press.
FOREIGN MINISTER SINGH: I want, with your permission, to say one more thing. The central message that the Prime Minister, or the central topic that the Prime Minister shared with the Secretary of State was that in the India-Pakistan context, really the most important aspect now, today, or even later, is the earliest restoration of mutual confidence between the two countries. Once confidence is restored between the two countries, everything else will fall in place and will then become so much easier to act upon.
I thought I would share that.
SECRETARY POWELL: Indeed.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Secretary --
FOREIGN MINISTER SINGH: No, I think this is the second time that has happened.
(Laughter.)
SECRETARY POWELL: The same thing happened at the last press conference.
(Laughter.)
FOREIGN MINISTER SINGH: I'm going to lose my job.
(Laughter.)
QUESTION: It's a function of jet lag. Mr. Foreign Minister, we're very sorry my colleagues and I keep doing that.
To both of you the question: How do you restore confidence? How do you get satisfaction that there won't be cross-border raids, and how can you be persuaded that President Musharraf has done enough to satisfy you that he is controlling the situation?
And, Mr. Secretary, there is a clear indication that India is not yet prepared to take any steps to restore the status quo ante before all of this happened.
FOREIGN MINISTER SINGH: I will answer the first part. How do you restore confidence? There is another philosophical question when it comes to discussing bilateral relations between nations particularly. Confidence is a factor that is borne of actions, and it would be -- I do not think India is working on the basis of additional steps General Pervez Musharraf can take. He is the president of a sovereign country and whatever steps he takes are really steps that he determines as the president of Pakistan in the interest of Pakistan.
But when it comes to taking steps towards normalization of relations with India, then there are certain aspects that we have now given public voice to. I don't necessarily have to keep repeating them. And it is India's expectations -- and these are not conditions -- but these are expectations that the moment that action in this regard -- there has already been some action which India has welcomed, and when there is action in regard to the 20 wanted terrorists and criminals, then I am very hopeful that there would be distinct movement towards moving to a situation which would be a situation similar to what existed before the 13th of December.
SECRETARY POWELL: I certainly agree with what the Foreign Minister said. President Musharraf gave a very important speech last Saturday. He gave to the people of Pakistan and the people of the international community, the people of India, a new vision of Pakistan, where he wants to take his country. And that speech was well received here in India and throughout the world.
But both here in India and throughout the world, we also said we hope to see action. We have seen action with respect to the detention of extremists, over 1,900; the closing of extremist organizations and their offices; and a number of other steps that are encouraging. We have also seen some efforts with respect to controlling activity across the line of control.
To go to the heart of your question, we will know when things stop happening over the line of control when things stop happening over the line of control. And as the Foreign Minister said, we have seen some important words said and important actions taken, and if we continue to see progress in that regard, then I expect we will see steps taken on the part of the Indian Government.
As the Foreign Minister also noted, with respect to the list of 20, this is an issue of continuing discussion with the Pakistani Government. And as President Musharraf said in his speech, he doesn't rule out appropriate action against those non-Pakistani citizens who are on that list of 20. And additional information has been provided to the Pakistani Government and a copy of that information was given to us, and we hope that President Musharraf, as he has said in the past, will examine all that information and do what is the appropriate thing to do in the case of each one of those 20 individuals.
So I think we are on a path that could lead to the restoration of dialogue and the kind of confidence-building activity that the Foreign Minister spoke of, but it will take action, further action, before we can really start walking down that path more aggressively.
QUESTION: My question is for both. Mr. Jaswant Singh, I will start with you first. India has been saying for years this is the India position of any cross-border terrorism and handling of the list that has been recently added to your list of asking the Pakistanis to oblige to this. But what is new from the American side? Is the American having any new assurance? Did you give any assurance to the India that is enough to resume the dialogue again, or is there any time frame for that to start?
SECRETARY POWELL: We would all like to see it start as soon as possible, but it is a judgment for the Indian Government to make and their assurances have to be assurances that are theirs to make, not me to provide. So I think we are on a path that will take us where we want to go, and what we have to do is to be patient, to remain committed to the diplomatic track, to recognize that this is a time of high tension when you have military forces in proximity to one another.
And we also have to be mindful that there are probably people out there who might want to create another incident to cause a conflagration, and we have to be sensitive to that. And so we will continue to work in the direction that we have been working for the last several weeks and continue to build on the progress that we have seen in the last several days, and especially in the last week.
FOREIGN MINISTER SINGH: I don't think it is a question of assurances. It is really India and Pakistan that have to resolve this issue. What the United States of America has done and is doing currently is a global fight against terrorism. That is what President Bush has announced. And in this fight against terrorism we are all united. There is a coalition of which Pakistan is a valuable partner, and also India. And in this fight against terrorism now that Pakistan -- the president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf has announced there are further actions in regard to terrorist activity.
Of course India welcomes those at the very first opportunity. All that we are saying is that whatever you have announced as action against terrorists we wish to see on the ground as demonstrably of recognizing at present. That is why the Prime Minister emphasized the aspect of confidence between countries.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I believe you said last night that you had asked the Indians to take certain steps to ease tensions. Could you elaborate on that today?
SECRETARY POWELL: I think what I said was I had certain ideas, and we discussed various ideas in several baskets, I will call them. One basket might be the rhetoric and language that is used on both sides in this time of tension. The second basket might be to examine the various diplomatic and political steps that have been taken in the course of the four and a half weeks since the 13th of December. And then finally, ways to consider de-escalating from the military steps that have been taken.
But these were just suggestions of ways we can move forward without trying to get any agreement on this time, because agreement will come in due course as confidence is restored, as the Foreign Minister says. And confidence will be restored as a result of words stated and actions taken consistent with those words. And I think we are off to a pretty good start over the last week, and let's see where this start takes us.
QUESTION: Mr. Powell, I understand that General Musharraf is due to visit Washington sometime next month. Do you expect the resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue before he actually goes to Washington? Thanks very much.
SECRETARY POWELL: This is not a function of the calendar with respect to his visit to the United States; it is a function of what progress we see with respect to the actions taken. And whether the resumption of dialogue takes place before then or after then is a matter that has to be resolved between the Indians and the Pakistanis, not the United States.
QUESTION: The Prime Minister said yesterday (inaudible).
(Laughter.)
QUESTION: Barbara Slavin of USA Today. Mr. Foreign Minister, are you saying that without some concrete action on the 20 we will not see any steps from India, any resumption of dialogue? And can you tell me, do you have any information as to whether any of those 20 are in custody? If so, how many and what nationality? Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER SINGH: So far as the other definitions and details that you have announced, those are really your words and I wouldn't be able to share every description or word that you have used. These are not -- please understand that in this fight against terrorism, when India says stop cross-border terrorism, abandon the pursuit of terrorism as an instrument of state policy, these are not so much demands as enunciations of clear principles of bilateral conduct in the situation amidst terrorism is a global menace.
So far as these 20 terrorists are concerned, 14 of them are Indian citizens. They are wanted for most heinous crimes, from bombings, terrorist activities, to abduction, kidnapping, narcotics smuggling. What else do you want me to list? There are details of where they are in Pakistan have been given. These are wanted terrorists and they are, in fact, written about in Pakistani journals themselves. It is not as if they are hiding in some caves in Karachi. There are, alas, no caves in Karachi for them to hide and so that they are, in fact, visible to the Pakistani establishment.
QUESTION: I am (inaudible) from the Hindu newspaper. My question is to Mr. Jaswant Singh. In your press conference you had mentioned the diminution of the situation across the line of control in Kashmir province is one of the expectations from (inaudible) --
FOREIGN MINISTER SINGH: Of course, it is an extremely perilous exercise to appear before the press with such frequency because your last statement is thrown back at you -- (laughter). It's not possible for me to say everything. But, of course, when I say abandon cross-border terrorism, how do you measure it? You measure it on the line of control where no confrontation takes place, not on a daily basis. And (inaudible) it will be easy to recognize (inaudible) it will mean India (inaudible). Please.
QUESTION: Mr. Foreign Minister, the Prime Minister said yesterday that Pakistan would be held accountable for any further violence because it wasn't a democracy and control is from the top. In light of that, what is the response of the Government of India to the latest market bomb yesterday in Jammu Kashmir? Do you have any idea who is behind that? Does it have any implications for this continued process or for your relations with Pakistan?
And, Secretary Powell, if you could just respond with any comment about the latest reciprocal violence in the Middle East, please.
FOREIGN MINISTER: The kind of mindless bombing in the citizen part of Jammu that took place yesterday is part of the pattern of terrorist activity. The government (inaudible). I am also -- the government is also very mindful of the fact that in this present situation, which is critically balanced, there are going to be -- there could well be demented elements that wish to further destabilize the situation in the region, and they could well indulge in acts of violence.
The Government of India fully takes this into account in determining and giving voice to its response. What has happened in Jammu is unacceptable. It is terrorist violence. It has got nothing to do with any kind of so-called freedom fight. It is a blatantly terrorist act directed against the civilian population. We have certain report (inaudible) take full and adequate steps in that regard.
SECRETARY POWELL: Obviously I condemn and the United States Government condemns what happened yesterday. Innocent people coming together for a celebration of a wonderful event in the lives of people, and it was interrupted by a terrorist murderer who killed seven people and wounded so many more. We condemn this act. We condemn this kind of senseless violence that keeps us from finding a way forward towards a cease-fire and toward entry into the Mitchell peace plan, which will lead to negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians that will hopefully, at the end of such negotiations, allow the creation of a Palestinian state. This kind of senseless violence does nothing but destroy innocent lives, and we condemn it.
Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER SINGH: Thank you.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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