January 17, 2002	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 2, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: US Secretary of State Colin Powell began talks here on Wednesday pushing a renewal of dialogue between Pakistan and India to ease tensions over Kashmir as he launched a key South Asia tour.

Mr Powell, who is also to visit India, Afghanistan and Nepal before heading to Japan, opened the Pakistan leg by meeting Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar ahead of formal discussions and a working dinner with President Pervez Musharraf, US officials said.

He is looking to bring Islamabad and New Delhi back from the brink of possible war, the threat of which spiralled last month after an attack on the Indian parliament.

Mr Powell said he did not expect to serve as a mediator in the standoff between India and Pakistan — something New Delhi has rejected out of hand — but would help in any way he could to bring the two sides together.

“To the extent that the United States can help get that dialogue started on all of the issues that are outstanding between the two countries (including) Kashmir, we would like to be helpful,” he told reporters en route to Islamabad.

Mr Powell said that at the moment such dialogue was more important than drawing down the estimated 800,000 troops from both countries that are now massed on the border.

“Armies can move back in the other direction again,” he said. “It’s more important to make sure that the political and diplomatic situation is stabilized. If that is stabilized then the armies can move back in due course.”

Mr Powell hinted that even as soon as an agreement in principle to resume talks had been reached, Washington would like to see India and Pakistan lift tit-for-tat diplomatic and travel sanctions they imposed on each this month after the parliament attack which New Delhi blames on Islamabad-backed Kashmiri militants.

“I assume that as we de-escalate, both sides would be anxious to reopen the border for (train and bus) traffic and open their airways once again,” Mr Powell said.

“Ultimately, it has to be the two sides talking to each other to solve the issue of Kashmir and not with the United States playing the kind of role that is suggested by the term ‘mediator’,” he said.

“We really cannot have a war in South Asia and we have to find a way to work through this crisis,” Powell said in an interview with PTV.—AFP/Reuters