US has said India and Pakistan can make further progress towards normalizing their ties if Islamabad is able to overcome the crisis.
WASHINGTON: Amid concerns that imposition of Emergency in Pakistan might cast a shadow on Indo-Pak peace process, the US has said India and Pakistan can make further progress towards normalizing their ties if Islamabad is able to overcome the crisis sparked by General Pervez Musharraf.
"India-Pakistan relationship is about as good as it has been in recent years," Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, in a hearing on Pakistan's current political crisis.
"I would say that substantial (progress) has been made and, if Pakistan can get past the current political crisis that it confronts, and the situation can be stabilized, that there is the hope that of further progress in normalizing India-Pakistan relations," the top State Department official said.
Expressing regret over imposition of Emergency in Pakistan, India had hoped that conditions of normalcy will soon return 'permitting Pakistan's transition to stability and democracy to continue'.
Negroponte said although the United States had a more visible role in 2002 when the two countries 'almost came to blows', the reconciliation now between India and Pakistan has much to do with the governments in the two countries.
The Chair of the House Panel Tom Lantos had Negroponte to comment on the US role in the India-Pakistan reconciliation, an issue that is not currently a focus lately the California Democrat observed.
"I think a lot of the effort has to be credited to the governments of India and Pakistan themselves," Negroponte observed.
"We had a more visible role, back in 2002, when the two countries almost came to blows. I think they were pulled back from, successfully pulled back from the brink, thanks, in part, to the diplomatic efforts of one of my predecessors, Deputy Secretary of State Armitage. But since that time, they have established a comprehensive dialogue between them," Negroponte added.
"They've worked on different aspect of the India-Pakistan relationship: trade, transportation, confidence-building measures and even some dialogue on the areas of serious dispute between them, such as Kashmir and a couple of the other border disputes," the US official said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}