November 06, 2008	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 7, 1429

WASHINGTON, Nov 5: President-elect Barack Obama may appoint former president Bill Clinton as a special envoy on Jammu and Kashmir, says a New York-based ethnic newspaper.

In an interview with the ‘Time’ magazine last week, Mr Obama said he has sounded out Mr Clinton, who has had first-hand experience dealing with the sub-continent.

When asked specifically about Mr Clinton playing a role in redefining Pakistan’s relations with India, he said: “Might not be bad. I actually talked to Bill, I talked to President Clinton about this when we had lunch” at Harlem in New York recently.

It may be pointed out that India has never been comfortable with third-party mediation on Kashmir, and will not embrace the idea of a high-profile special envoy, even if the job goes to a friendly Clinton.

In a recent interview with MSNBC Mr Obama had said the United States should try to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

“We should probably try to facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and try to resolve the Kashmir crisis so that they can stay focused on the situation in the sub-continent, he said.

In another interview, Mr Obama had said that if elected president, he would “continue support of ongoing Indian-Pakistani efforts to resolve Kashmir problem … to address the political roots of the arms race between India and Pakistan.”

He said that “working with Pakistan and India to try to resolve the Kashmir crisis in a serious way” would be one of his “critical tasks”.