The Hindu : Polls will not hamper Indo-U.S. ties: Sinha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 22, 2004

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International - India & World

Polls will not hamper Indo-U.S. ties: Sinha

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

The United States President, George W. Bush, with the Foreign Minister, Yashwant Sinha, in the Oval Office on Tuesday. — White House Photo

WASHINGTON, JAN. 21. The elections in India and in the United States later, will not interfere with the progress taking place in the bilateral relationship, the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, says.

"Clearly, there is a conviction that this need not interrupt the progress of our relationship...We are already in the election mode in India. The discussion on the `quartet issues' and other issues will go on," Mr. Sinha told mediapersons at the Indian embassy here on Tuesday.

Mr. Sinha said he had told the U.S. Secretary of Secretary of State, Colin Powell, that the working group on counter-terrorism had not met for a while and that "he immediately took note" of it. "Here again elections will not be allowed to interfere with the meeting of this group."

The high point of Mr. Sinha's visit was his meeting with the U.S. President, George W. Bush, at the Oval Office for about 25 minutes yesterday. Senior U.S. officials such as Mr. Powell and the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, were also present.

Mr. Sinha said that he was "very satisfied" with the discussions and "things are looking good," and that the tone for his discussions had been set by the meeting with Mr. Bush who saw him on an extremely busy day while preparing for the State of the Union Address. Mr. Bush discussed developments in South Asia, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, India-Pakistan relations and Indo-U.S. relations. Apparently, during the meeting, Mr. Bush also discussed parts of his State of the Union message.

Mr. Sinha, who had detailed discussions on different issues with Ms. Rice and Mr. Powell, said there was a great deal of happiness over the developments on the SAARC front and in the forward movement of the India-Pakistan relations. There was appreciation for the boldness and courage of the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mr. Sinha also met the former U.S. Ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, now a senior member of the administration at the National Security Council, and discussed Iraq.

Mr. Sinha said that Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Bush had given a broad policy framework through the recent statement on the next steps in the strategic partnership. "Now it is up to the two foreign offices to start working on the implementation."

On the U.S. "role" in the India-Pakistan dialogue, Mr. Sinha said that there was "absolutely" no suggestion from Washington that it desired to play the role of a mediator or that of an umpire.

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