The Hindu : Front Page : Boucher strikes a positive note

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 11, 2006
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Boucher strikes a positive note

Amit Baruah

"We hope anti-terror mechanism will work"

Richard Boucher

NEW DELHI: The United States hopes that the soon-to-be-formed anti-terrorism mechanism between India and Pakistan would produce results that stops violent actions in the region and is not restricted to the improvement of political relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Addressing a press conference, U.S. Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher, however, refused to comment on a statement made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that India possessed credible evidence to suggest that Pakistani intelligence was behind the recent Mumbai blasts.

"You're asking for a comment on an Indian Government position that I've not heard from the Indian Government. And so I'm not going to comment on your comment," Mr. Boucher, who met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon on Friday, said.

Asked whether he would describe India-Pakistan relations as fragile or robust, he said that he didn't have "too many adjectives" at this point to classify the relationship, but the proposed Foreign Secretary-level talks between the two countries next week was a "good thing."

"My bet is it's going to happen," he said about the passage of a Bill in the Senate to facilitate Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear cooperation in the coming "lame duck" session of the U.S. Congress.

Nuclear deal

According to him, the U.S. had made the deal with India and wanted to implement it as soon as possible. "Whatever happens, we will make this [civilian nuclear deal] come to fruition."

On the situation in Sri Lanka, he said the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were losing ground in terms of their political standing given that both parties had resorted to violence.

He wanted the Sri Lankan Government to investigate the killings of civilians, including those of refugees in the eastern part of the country.Describing the agreement between the Nepalese Government and the Maoists as a step forward, he said the rebels had said they wanted to become a political party. However, the Maoists needed to stop extortions and beatings, he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News Update

Stories in this Section