New York, November 11
In yet another expression of America’s new-found love for Pakistan, US President George W. Bush offered to bring India and Pakistan together to have “good and meaningful” talks on Kashmir taking into account the wishes of the people of the state, even as he announced $ 1 billion in US aid as an additional reward to Pakistan.Detested only months ago by the Western democracies, Pakistan’s military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, continued to bask under the lavish praise being heaped on him after joining the America-led war against Afghanistan with Mr Bush calling him a “strong leader” and Islamabad a “strong ally” after the two leaders met here last night over dinner.
The meeting came a day after summit talks between Mr Bush and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the White House in Washington on Friday.
With General Musharraf standing by his side, Mr Bush told reporters, “We had a very good discussion on this subject (Kashmir), and I assured the Pakistan President that my country will do what we can to bring parties (India and Pakistan) together to have good, meaningful discussion on Kashmir so that we can come up with a solution.”
A joint statement on the first Bush-Musharraf talks issued shortly thereafter went a step further and referred to the two leaders agreeing that “India and Pakistan should resolve the Kashmir issue through diplomacy and dialogue in mutually acceptable ways that take into account the wishes of the people of Kashmir.”
The billion-dollar-aid announced by Mr Bush is in addition to debt relief and financial assistance to Pakistan announced in the past few weeks. Mr Bush also declared that Pakistan’s efforts in the US-led war on terrorism were bringing the nation back into the global fold. “Pakistan’s efforts against terror are benefiting the entire world and linking Pakistan more closely with the world,” Mr Bush said at the joint news conference.
The Bush-Musharraf talks came a few hours after the latter resorted to a high-pitch anti-India rhetoric at the UN General Assembly session by raking up the Kashmir issue.
General Musharraf said UN resolutions on Kashmir had remained unimplemented and “the question is whether it is people asking for their rights in accordance with the UN resolutions are to be called terrorists or whether it is the countries refusing to implement the UN resolutions who are perpetrating state
terrorism.” PTI
