Pakistan assured of long-term relationship: Rocca holds wide-ranging talks
By Qudssia Akhlaque
ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca held wide-ranging talks with the top Pakistani leadership and senior officials here on Tuesday and underscored the US interest in pursuing a long-term relationship with Pakistan.
Her official engagements started with a meeting in the morning with Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar at the Foreign Office. Later, she met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, President General Pervez Musharraf, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri and Education Minister Javed Ashraf.
"There was nothing earth-shaking or anyone specific issue or concern that dominated the talks between the two sides," a source privy to the official meetings told Dawn later.
A senior official who maintained that the purpose of Ms Rocca's visit was to touch base on important bilateral and regional issues said she had expressed the US government's satisfaction at the outcome of presidential elections in Afghanistan and was pleased with the peaceful dispensation of the Afghan electoral process in Pakistan.
Ms Rocca was also interested in the progress made so far in the ongoing dialogue process between Pakistan and India. She was told by her hosts that while the atmospherics had improved markedly, people-to-people contact had increased substantially, and dialogue process was continuing, progress on substantive issues, including Kashmir, remained slow, sources said. The clear signal from her was that the US engagement in the region would continue.
The situation in Iraq was also briefly discussed during Ms Rocca's meetings here but there was no request by the US Assistant Secretary of State for deployment of Pakistani troops in Iraq, informed sources said, pointing to the fact that President Musharraf had already proposed the raising of an Iraqi force instead.
While the ongoing war against terrorism figured in the bilateral talks, there was no demand or pressure by the US side for a high value target or a "big catch" ahead of the US elections, it is learnt. Her message was that the US wants an all-encompassing relationship with Pakistan, one that extends beyond the war against terrorism and can be sustained.
According to official sources Pakistan also raised the licensing issue of military sales with specific reference to some spare parts of military equipment. Apparently the US secretary of State said her understanding was that it was being streamlined and that she would follow up on it.
On the bilateral front it is learnt that Ms Rocca was particularly keen to learn about the progress made on the educational reforms, an area in which the United States has immense interest. She met the new federal education minister to underline the priority that the US government attaches to these reforms.
"Ms Rocca conveyed that the US government was eager to see the actual implementation of educational reforms particularly in the curriculum to strengthen the existing system and modernise the madrassahs. At the heart of this eagerness is the US concern that madrassahs in Pakistan breed extremism and militancy, a fear that has roots in the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
When Dawn asked one insider if during her meetings here the US Assistant secretary of State raised any democracy-related concern regarding Pakistan, particularly on the issue of President Musharraf retaining his uniform beyond Dec 31, the categorical response was: "Not once."
Ms Rocca's boss Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage declared in a recent interview that President Gen Pervez Musharraf was the best man to lead Pakistan.
Ms Rocca arrived here on a four-day visit over the weekend and is due to leave on Wednesday morning. She will also visit Afghanistan and India this week.
ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca held wide-ranging talks with the top Pakistani leadership and senior officials here on Tuesday and underscored the US interest in pursuing a long-term relationship with Pakistan.
