WASHINGTON, May 23: Indo-Pakistan tensions continue to figure prominently in various official comments here, with Vice-President Dick Cheney saying on a television programme on Wednesday night he was worried about the escalating conflict and that “we’re very actively engaged in trying to keep the lid on there.”
Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld said the Bush administration was deeply concerned about the situation in South Asia and senior American officials were in touch with their counterparts in the region.
Mr Rumsfeld said the message to everyone was that “it is a dangerous situation and that our hope and all our efforts are aimed at encouraging them (Pakistan and India) to lessen the tension along the border, both in Kashmir and elsewhere”.
At the State Department, deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said at the daily briefing on Wednesday afternoon the increase in shelling across the Line of Control between India and Pakistan was “a very worrisome development,” and called upon both sides to exercise restraint.
“Armed conflict can only add to the problems that divide these two nuclear-armed neighbours. It’s not going to solve any problems. And that’s why we think restraint, a reduction in violence is vital,” Mr Reeker said.
Mr Reeker also called upon Pakistan to “do all it can” to end “infiltration of terrorist organizations into Kashmir”. He said: clearly, there have been problems with terrorism in Kashmir. We have groups, organizations that are listed on our list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations that have been involved in Kashmir.
“There has been violence there. We saw violence again yesterday with the assassination of this moderate political leader (Abdul Gani Lone). And so that is something we have been discussing with Pakistan certainly, the need to control infiltration into Kashmir. That is an issue we continue to raise, that all sides need to exercise restraint. But we have called on Pakistan to do all it can to achieve the objective of ending the infiltration into Kashmir.”
