The Hindu : 'Absence of democracy in Pak. to blame'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 14, 2002

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International

'Absence of democracy in Pak. to blame'

By Amit Baruah

NEW YORK Sept. 13. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, told the U.S. President, George W. Bush, that democracy was the only solution to the problems faced by South Asia and Pakistan. During their 35-minute-meeting on Thursday, Mr. Vajpayee told the U.S. President that all the ills of the Indo-Pakistan relationship could be traced to the absence of democracy in Pakistan. The Prime Minister's comments yesterday, which were amplified in his U.N. General Assembly speech today, came after the negative comments made by the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, on Thursday.

In other remarks at his meeting with Mr. Bush yesterday, the Prime Minister said he was deeply disturbed by the killings of candidates in the run-up to the Jammu & Kashmir elections. According to sources, the U.S. President said he would ``reinforce'' the message to ensure peaceful elections in Kashmir, when he met the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, later on Thursday.

Mr. Bush pointed to the long-term nature of India-U.S. relations and said if the foundation could be built by the Prime Minister and himself together, then others could place the ``roof'' on the relationship. In a lighter vein, Mr. Bush told the Prime Minister that if his officials were not doing what they were supposed to be doing then he should be told about it.

The sources said the atmosphere during the meeting was excellent. Interestingly, while the issue of a possible sale of arms by the United States to Pakistan did not figure in the Vajpayee-Bush talks yesterday, the matter was taken up by the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, during his meetings in Washington on September 9-10. Mr. Sinha conveyed to his American interlocutors that the provision of offensive weapons to Pakistan (including F-16s) would be counter-productive.

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'Absence of democracy in Pak. to blame'