Bilateral ball rolling again

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said today that 8216;8216;it is not acceptable8217;8217; that people continue to die of mi...

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said today that 8216;8216;it is not acceptable8217;8217; that people continue to die of militant killings in Kashmir and that he would 8216;8216;talk to Pakistan8217;8217; about this.

Setting aside their hiccup over the 2003 8216;8216;body-search8217;8217; of former Defence Minister George Fernandes, the Indian leadership and Armitage today focussed instead on promoting bilateral relationship as well as discussing issues of global concern, including likely cooperation in third countries like Iraq.

Sources said the two sides had also ironed out their problems over the transfer of high technology from the US to India as part of the 8216;8216;quartet8217;8217; issues, including the sale of possible dual-use components from third countries to India.

US Ambassador to India David Mulford had told journalists here last week that while New Delhi was willing to give assurances that it would not use directly imported high-technology items in its space, nuclear and missile programmes, there still remained issues to be sorted out on imports from third parties. Armitage told reporters today that no more problems existed on this count, that it was a 8216;8216;win-win situation8217;8217; between India and US.

On his first trip to India after the new government was sworn in, Armitage was also apprised of the various ideas that New Delhi was contemplating as part of its effort to participate in Iraq8217;s reconstruction.

Armitage said he made 8216;8216;no request for troops8217;8217; to the Indian government, but pointed out that 8216;8216;there are many ways in which India thinks it can be helpful.8217;8217;

But it was Armitage8217;s comments on Pakistan, especially as he travels from here to Islamabad, that seem to have been really appreciated in New Delhi. Considering this is Armitage8217;s third visit to the sub-continent in three years8212;his first was fraught with the tension of a presumed war during the mobilisation on the India-Pak border two years ago8212;New Delhi is said to have given him a thorough briefing on the rising graph of innocent deaths in Kashmir. Asked whether he believed Pakistan had dismantled all infrastructure on terrorism, Armitage said, 8216;8216;Clearly, all the infrastructure and cross-border support activities had not been dismantled. Some infrastructure had been dismantled but the level of infiltration was still too high.8217;8217;

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The US leader was also asked if he was satisfied that terrorism had come down in Kashmir. He replied that 8216;8216;people were dying in Kashmir and that was not acceptable. We will talk to Pakistan about it.8217;8217; Armitage also indicated that New Delhi had assured that it will talk to all the Kashmiris and that he would pass this message on to Pakistan.

Armitage also said he had called Fernandes to express his apologies on the alleged 8216;8216;body-search,8217;8217; during his US visit, but that he was offering no regrets. He pointed out that it was important to get the facts right, that there was no 8216;8216;strip-search8217;8217; involved.