Prithvi not quot;openlyquot; deployed: US

WASHINGTON, June 10: Obliquely contesting the assessment of American intelligence agencies about India's employment of the Prithvi, key Cli...

WASHINGTON, June 10: Obliquely contesting the assessment of American intelligence agencies about India8217;s employment of the Prithvi, key Clinton administration officials acknowledged today that New Delhi had not 8220;openly8221; deployed its missile.

In a surprising 8220;certification8221; of both India and Pakistan, both the State Department and the White House praised the two countries for showing restraint in the nuclear and missile spheres.

8220;There has been no nuclear testing and neither country has declared itself a nuclear power. They have not shared their nuclear technology and nor have they resorted to open deployment of missiles,8221; Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robin Raphel told conferees at a meeting on proliferation hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for Peace.

Raphel said both countries had practised restraint in a 8220;very fundamental way8221; and the United States 8220;want to recognise that and to build on that.8221;Raphel8217;s comments appeared to bear out the theory of a turf battle between intelligence officials and proliferation hawks both of who share a punitive mindset and administration mandarins who prefer to remain engaged with New Delhi and Islamabad.

The impression was further borne out by the remarks earlier by White House official James Steinberg who said both India and Pakistan had acquired nuclear and missile capabilities and were continuing to expand their programmes 8220;although each side has avoided acknowledging its capabilities and deploying such weapons.8221;

Indian analysts and officials said the public remarks 8212; virtually affirming the rarely noticed non-proliferation credentials of both New Delhi and Islamabad was in sharp contrast to the agitation and hectoring by the proliferation hawks in the US capital whose sustenance depended such alarums.

Steiberg, who is Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for National Security Affairs, also expressed a rarely proffered acceptance of ground realities by acknowledging that 8220;a near term political solution to proliferation in South Asia is unlikely.8221;

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Observing that there are hopeful signs that the new governments in Delhi and Islamabad are genuinely interested in pursuing dialogue and improving bilateral relations, 8220;which may further reinforce the de facto restrains both sides are showing,8221; Steinberg said the US would continue to urge both sides to move in the right direction on CTBT and the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty and to freeze and eventually eliminate their nuclear and missile arsenals. In contrast to the optimistic tone of key US officials about deployments in the sub-continent, Pakistan8217;s ambassador to Washington Riaz Khokhar stubbornly maintained that he saw no scope for improvement in ties unless the Kashmir problem was resolved.His dogged insistence on Kashmir being the core issue and the need for US and other third party interlocutors for once found no sympathy from even Raphel.

8220;In our view, there is no direct role for us in any mediatory capacity,8221; Raphel said, in a surprisingly firm articulation of US non-interference. Further isolating the Pakistani position, Chinese academic Dingli Shen said Beijing too felt that Islamabad should put aside the Kashmir problem and proceed on other issues in the same manner as India and China had set aside their territorial claims. Raphel, also attempted to disabuse the suspicion in the subcontinent about US motives. Expressing more optimism for the region than the Pakistani ambassador could summon, Raphel 8212; clearly sounding more upbeat about India 8212; said the situation had undergone a fundamental change.