Author: PTI Or Powell?

Author: PTI Or Powell?

A (Curious Mix Of A) Little of What Was Said, And All That Wasn¿t
Part 1

By S Raghotham

American Secretary of State Colin Powell testified before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on February 5 making his pitch for his department¿s 2002-03 budget. A PTI correspondent filed a copy on parts of the Foreign Policy testimony that related to India. The report appeared on the front page of The Times of India, Bangalore, on February 7. It was headlined Powell to Musharraf: act, gain India¿s trust. The report said:

Hours after President Pervez Musharraf brushed aside international concerns over cross-border terrorism, US Secretary of State Colin Powell asked the Pakistani military ruler to take action in reducing the menace and crackdown on outfits in a way that will give India confidence.

Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the US-led war on terrorism had reshaped the entire South Asian region with a reinvigorated US-India relationship.

Musharraf should act to scale down "the incidents over the Line of Control and round up terrorist organizations and do it in a way that will give India confidence that they are both united in the coalition against terrorism and not let it degenerate into a campaign against each other."

He asked Musharraf to implement the promises made in his January 12 speech to end terrorism.

Terming the Indo-Pak border stand-off "dangerous," he said the US would encourage both India and Pakistan to refrain from provocative rhetoric and move to redeployment of their forces.

Describing Musharraf¿s January 12 speech as a "seminal event," Powell said, it not only dealt with terrorism and extremism in a way I believe New Delhi found constructive, but sent a clear message to Pakistanis that terror must end if Pakistan is to enter the 21st centuy with expectations of progress and a decent life for its people."

He said since the terrorist attack on the US, "we have reshaped that whole region - a new US-Pakistan relationship invigorated the US-India relationship, …"

On the border stand-off, he said, "Any situation where you have forces that are mobilized and are in proximity to each other and are at something of a war footing…is a dangerous situation, one where both sides have nuclear and missile capability is dramatically more so."

But from the start, India and Pakistan indicated that they wanted to avoid war, he said. (PTI)

Now, take a look at what Powell actually said:

…I might just touch very briefly, Mr. Chairman, on the standoff between India and Pakistan. It¿s of concern to us, but I¿m pleased that both nations remain committed to finding a peaceful solution to this crisis, and we will continue to work with them. I visited there a few weeks ago and had positive discussions with both sides, and both sides have made it clear to me then and in their actions since that they are trying to move forward and find a diplomatic solution.