January 8, 2003	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 4, 1423

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NEW DELHI, Jan 7: For the second day in a row the United States on Tuesday expressed its strong disapproval of India’s hostile stance towards Pakistan, as a visiting senior envoy urged New Delhi to resume peace talks with Islamabad.

Rejecting New Delhi’s argument that there would be no dialogue with Pakistan until it ends alleged cross-border terrorism, US State Department official Richard Haass said: “I am concerned that such a position does not provide the basis for a sound, long-term policy for India to deal with its neighbours.”

Star News quoted Haass as saying in the southern city of Hyderabad that India would not be able to realise its immense potential globally until its relationship with Islamabad normalised.

“The Director with the Policy Planning Staff in the US State Department, Haass further asserted that India should look for opportunities to reach out and reinforce the government in Pakistan,” Star News said.

“Resuming a range of contacts with Pakistan at this time will not mean rewarding terrorism. Indians should not view efforts to improve relations with Pakistan as a favour to its neighbour,” Haass said.

Despite urging the need for talks, Haass also had a word of caution for Pakistan.

He said that a resumption of dialogue, improved trade relations, and supporting positive developments in Pakistan did not mean condoning or overlooking the many serious matters that Islamabad must address.

Haass, according to Star News, asserted that the US would continue to urge President Pervez Musharraf to do everything in his power to permanently end infiltration in Kashmir.

Haass described the recent controversial state elections in Jammu and Kashmir as a step in the right direction.

“It is a moment of opportunity in Kashmir, one that New Delhi, the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed government and the people of the region can collectively translate into tangible political and economic benefits,” he said

But he also acknowledged the fact that the continuing acts of violence in Kashmir were narrowing the scope of the opportunities.

APP adds: The visiting US official, however, stated that the US stood with India against terrorists, be they those who struck at New York and Washington or those who targeted Indian parliament.

At the ongoing CII Partnership Summit 2003, Richard Haass, said there was an “unusual situation” where neither country has a high commissioner in the capital of the other.

Haass said normal relationship between India and Pakistan was “not impossible to envision,” and an expansion of diplomatic links could facilitate people-to-people contacts and lay the groundwork for a better bilateral co-operation on a range of common interests.