The Hindu : National : Mulford keen on knowing India's line on Iraq

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Saturday, Jul 10, 2004

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Mulford keen on knowing India's line on Iraq

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 9. There has been no substantive change in India's policy towards the United States after the new Government took over, the U.S. Ambassador, David Mulford, told presspersons here today.

"There might be a change in style, there might be a change in rhetoric, there might be ... a more detached view — but I notice no substantive difference," Mr. Mulford said. In fact, he claimed, the new Government had made a special effort to convey that the India-United States relationship was of vital importance and it expected these ties to grow.

Mr. Mulford said he was curious to know what kind of policy India would pursue towards the new "government" in Iraq. "I haven't had a clear expression about what India's policy towards Iraq would be," he said, pointing out that the new Iraqi "government" wanted to engage a number of other governments.

"That's an issue which will certainly come up when the [U.S.] Deputy Secretary [of State, Richard Armitage] is here [next week]," he said about India's approach towards the Iyad Allawi "government" in Iraq.

According to Mr. Mulford, the U.S. had briefed India about the situation in Iraq over the whole of last year. The U.S. would continue to take interest in what India and other countries were thinking about doing in Iraq. "It's a natural issue for discussion."

"We know they [the new Iraqi `government'] intend to talk to a number of countries about that kind of participation those countries plan," he said. Since India had spoken of its cultural, historic links with Iraq, it was natural to wonder what New Delhi's policy was going to be.

Asked whom Mr. Armitage would meet during his visit, Mr. Mulford said the official would meet the External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, the National Security Adviser, J.N. Dixit, and, possibly, the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

To a question whether there had been a shift in the U.S. Government's position that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir could improve only if Pakistan-sponsored terrorism ended, the Ambassador was appreciative of the peace process put in motion by India and Pakistan. New Delhi and Islamabad had agreed that Kashmir was an issue to be addressed. While stressing that terrorism was unacceptable, the Ambassador said Pakistan was an important ally of the U.S. in fighting terrorism. Pakistan, he pointed out, had lost soldiers in the battle against terrorism.

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