A Gandhian plea by Clinton

The President8217;s remarks 8212; which some observers felt were gratuitous given the nuclear doctrine of the United States and other nuclear powers 8212; came at a brief Rose Garden address after he met with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to preview the agenda for the meeting in Geneva tomorrow of foreign ministers from the so-called permanent five nuclear countries P5 which is to address the developments in South Asia.

Reeling off a laundry list of countries which had forsaken nuclear weapons and non-proliferationsuccesses achieved by the elite nuclear club, Clinton said the tests by India and Pakistan quot;stand in stark contrast to the progress the world has made over the past several years in reducing stockpiles and containing the spread of nuclear weapons.quot;

In a significant initiative, the US President also invested Beijing with a new role in the affairs of the sub-continent.

Thanking China for chairing the P5 meeting, Clinton said this was further evidence of the important role China can play in meeting the challenges of the 21st Century and the quot;constructive Chinese leadership that will be essential to the long-term resolution of issues involving South Asia.quot;

Clinton said the US is quot;determined to work with countries which are willing to help us, and we want very much to work with both India and Pakistan to help them resolve their differences and to restore a future of hope, not fear, to the region.quot;

In remarks which followed the President8217;s, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said right now the mostimportant thing both sides can do is quot;to cool it and take a deep breath and to begin to climb out of the hole they have dug themselves into.quot;

Albright said the message from the P5 countries to India and Pakistan should be 8212; no further nuclear testing, no deployment or testing of missiles, no more inflammatory rhetoric and no more provocative military activity.

In the longer term, the Geneva meeting would seek to avert a regional arms race and to quot;reexamine options for easing the underlying political problems between India and Pakistan, including Kashmirquot;, Albright added.

Making it abundantly clear that the US would not countenance any effort to allow India or Pakistan to be recognised as nuclear powers 8212; France and Russia seem inclined to support such a move 8212; Albright said nuclear weapon states have a quot;special responsibility to protect the viability of the non-proliferation regime and a responsibility which we must reaffirm in Geneva to reduce further the level of our nuclear arsenals and thelikelihood of nuclear war.quot;

quot;The Non-Proliferation Treaty will not be amended to accommodate either country,quot; she maintained. The sentiment was echoed a short while later at a hearing on the Hill before the Senate Foreign Relations committee by Assistant Secretary Rick Inderfurth who categorically ruled out full nuclear status for India and Pakistan, saying the US was not inclined to reward any country trying to quot;blast its way into the clubquot; since this might encourage other countries.

However, since India and Pakistan were now self-declared nuclear powers, the US would try and find ways to deal with that reality, Inderfurth said, adding that Washington understood India8217;s gripe about the exclusivity of the nuclear club. quot;We won8217;t change that, and that will be a continuing source of discussion and controversy,quot; he added.

Clearly betraying his anger and disappointment at the developments, Inderfurth blamed New Delhi for bringing about a position where it was being equated with Islamabad. The zero-sum gamewhich India abhorred had returned and it would be a long time before the situation could change, he said.

However, the key Clinton official dealing with South Asia demurred when Senators wanted the administration to tighten the economic screws on the region by forging a multilateral sanctions regime with other countries, saying quot;we do not wish to make pariahs out of them.quot;

Washington, meanwhile, went into overdrive to get a handle on the situation despite the distinct cooling off in the sub-continent with a flurry of meetings preceding Secretary of State Albright8217;s departure to Geneva for what is regarded as the first international initiative 8212; welcomed by Pakistan and ignored by India 8212; on the region.