'Our New Relationship With Pakistan Is For The Long Term'

Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar : Ladies and gentlemen of themedia, I am Abdul Sattar, Foreign Minister. Once again, Secretary of State ColinPowell has honored us by his visit, representing a country with which we havehad historically close and cooperative relations. He is a welcome guest, aninterlocutor. President Pervez Musharraf values the opportunity of exchangingviews with him person to person even more than on telephone, and, as you know,they have had very frequent conversations on the telephone. And I want to add,so do I.

Four days ago, after President Musharraf concluded his speech addressed tothe people of Pakistan, Colin Powell was the first foreign leader who called andexpressed appreciation of the president's bold decisions. He complimented thepresident for going beyond the crisis of the moment, for elucidating thepeaceful and tolerant spirit of Islam, and serving the cause of peace andunderstanding in our region.

Colin Powell knows that over the past 27 months President Musharraf'sgovernment has been pursuing domestic priorities of economic revival, improvinggovernance, and political reform. The decisions our president announced on the12th of this month illustrated once again his government's resolve to follow thevision of our founding fathers. We want to build Pakistan as a modern Islamicstate. Religious tolerance is as much of an ideal as political freedom.

Given our convictions about the sanctity of human life, it is natural thatPakistan has always denounced terrorism in all its forms and manifestations;then, in the outrage of 11 September, and promptly decided to join the coalitionagainst terrorism. As you know, we also condemned the attack of 13 December atthe Indian parliament.

Terrorism is a scourge. It must be condemned. International cooperation needsto be intensified in order to eradicate this phenomenon from its roots. A justcause is not ennobled by killing of innocent civilians, nor can the civilizedcommunity of nations condone the use of force for repression of the legitimatecause of the people. Violence begets violence. Responsible states must act tostop the spiral.

President George Bush and his administration have been engaged in intenseefforts to prevent escalation and promote de-escalation of the Pakistan-Indiacrisis. To that priority objective, Secretary of State Powell (inaudible)insights and extraordinary powers of persuasion. We have extended to him ourwholehearted cooperation. In conversations today, we have drawn attention to theroot cause of the tension between Pakistan and India, and hence the need toaddress the Kashmir question. The United States is blessed with the uniquequality of leadership to promote peaceful settlement of this issue in accordancewith recognized principles.

We also shared with Secretary of State Powell our satisfaction at theprogress that is taking place in Afghanistan since the interim administrationtook office on 22nd December. We welcome the deployment of internationalsecurity assistance force in Kabul and we agree that implementation of UNSecurity Council resolution of 14 November 2001 and the Bonn agreement of 8December is indispensable for the unity and reconstruction of Afghanistan.

With these words, I take great privilege in requesting Secretary of StateColin Powell to please address this conference.

Colin Powell: Thank you very much, my colleague, and good evening, ladiesand gentlemen.

First of all, Mr. Minister, let me thank you for that very powerful statementof commitment to the cause of peace and to the defeat of terrorism. My secondvisit here in recent months demonstrates the value the United States attaches toPakistan as a true friend and a key partner. Our new relationship with Pakistanis not just for now; it is for the long term. And I would like to thankPresident Musharraf and Foreign Minister Sattar for hosting me today.

In our meetings, I expressed our appreciation -- mine, President Bush's, theAmerican people, the international community -- their appreciation for PresidentMusharraf's bold and seminal speech last Saturday. President Musharraf'sdecision to confront extremism promises to transform his country into a modern,moderate state, as the Minister just noted. This transformation will take time,but he has set a new direction that will enhance Pakistan's role in the regionand in the world.

President Musharraf's willingness to take on terrorists and theirorganizations shows courage and leadership. He stated clearly that Pakistan willoppose terrorism wherever it occurs, including in Kashmir. Already, beforeSeptember 11th, he had taken a number of steps to move his country away fromextremism. And since September 11th, he has strengthened that stancedramatically.

Most impressively, the people of Pakistan are behind him. They support whathe is doing. The United States joins President Musharraf and the people ofPakistan as they follow this new path. The international community has reactedpositively to the steps that President Musharraf has taken. It has recognizedthe importance of his January 12th speech and rallied in support of Pakistan andwhat President Musharraf is trying to achieve.

That said, President Musharraf did not make the decision to fight extremismto please other countries. He decided to confront terrorism because he knew itwas important to Pakistan and its people to confront terrorism.

I applaud not only his speech, but the strong actions that Pakistan has takensince then. As of today, over 1,900 extremists, other individuals who are oftroublesome character, have been detained, requiring the registration and thereform of the madrases, banning of groups that support terrorism, the freezingof bank accounts of these groups, clamping down on their fundraising activity,ending their propaganda activities throughout the country, closing down offices.All of these are positive actions to bring meaning to the words of his speech.

We hope that President Musharraf's speech and actions to implement what wasin that speech will go a long way towards lowering tensions in the region. Thechallenge for India and Pakistan is to demonstrate that regional issues can bestbe resolved through peace and dialogue, not through conflict and terror. Eventhe most difficult of issues can be resolved through dialogue, and not throughconflict. And I appreciate the Minister's statement that they are ready --Pakistan is ready for such a dialogue to begin.

We also reviewed the situation in Afghanistan. Together with our coalitionpartners we have made great progress. Both the United States and Pakistansupported the establishment of a broad-based government and a process that willlead to elections in just a little over two years. The Afghan people havebenefited; the world has benefited. Although the fight is not over, Afghanstoday live freer lives than ever before.

In a few days, we will attend a conference in Tokyo to plan with the AfghanGovernment the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The United States is playing aprominent role as co-chair, but the active involvement of so many countriesreflects the international commitment to peace and security in Afghanistan andthroughout this region.

I might conclude by saying it was also my privilege to extend to PresidentMusharraf an invitation from President Bush for President Musharraf to visit theUnited States in the very near future, and the Minister and I are now looking atrespective calendars to see when that visit might take place.

Thank you.

Question Mr. Secretary, you have praised President Musharraf's steps,but he has said now that he has done all he can and that India must reciprocate.What more do you think needs to be done, and are you satisfied that he has doneall that he can do?

Colin Powell: He has done a great deal in word and deed, and I am surethat he will be doing more in the weeks and months ahead, as he brings hisvision to reality. And I will take to India, the day after tomorrow -- tomorrowevening, when I get there -- what I have heard and what I have seen.

I have had conversations with my colleague, Jaswant Singh, over the lastseveral days, and what we will do is review the situation and see what we can doto continue moving down a political and diplomatic track to a solution to thiscrisis. We now have to start looking for steps that will de-escalate thesituation. I think President Musharraf's speech was not only an historic speech,but it was a de-escalatory effort on his part.

And I think we want to start seeing whether or not both sides believe enoughprogress has been made that we can find ways to de-escalate politically anddiplomatically with respect to words that are used and rhetoric that isexpressed from time to time. Some of the political and diplomatic steps thathave been taken earlier in the crisis, perhaps we can begin to review to seewhether they still should remain in effect -- some of the closures that tookplace. And in due course, hopefully there will be military de-escalation aswell.

The important thing now is for both sides to make a political judgment thatthe way out of this crisis is political and diplomatic, and not throughconflict. We need a campaign against terrorism, not a campaign with these twocountries fighting one another.

Question Mr. Foreign Minister, would you comment on what more stepscan be taken? Mr. Foreign Minister, is Pakistan prepared to take more stepswithout seeing some reciprocal action from India, such as a pulling back oftroops from the line of control?

Abdul Sattar I think if you see the sequence of implementation overthe last two years, you will yourself arrive at the judgment that ours is aprogressive campaign in pursuit of the objectives that this government has setbefore itself. And we review the situation from time to time, and wherever thereis a need for further steps, we take those steps.

I think -- if I didn't say this earlier, let me say it -- that we have anagenda that the president of Pakistan announced, I think on the 14th of October,1999, soon after he took office. And you will see a consistency of policy andmeasures in pursuit of those objectives. So we have a strategy that iscontinuing. And as the Secretary himself indicated, I agree with him thatPresident Musharraf does intend to keep the objective in mind and take furthersteps wherever it's necessary.

Question My question is to Mr. Colin Powell. Sir, as you haveappreciated President Musharraf's speech and the steps taken by him, and alsothere is a demand that Pakistan should take more steps. Is there any proposalwith you which you are taking to New Delhi tomorrow that India should also takecertain measures to de-escalate the situation on the border?

And as well as there are some extremist groups in India which are giving --issuing such statements which are vitiating the atmosphere in this region. Soare you taking up these two issues with India also, the violence in Kashmir?

Colin Powell: On the (inaudible), I think it's important to note thatthere is no society that is free of extremist groups or terrorists who arewilling to kill innocent people to achieve an aim of theirs. The United Statesis not innocent of this. We have had our own home-grown terrorists who have donethis. And so we will speak out against terrorism wherever it occurs and, yes,I'll take that message to India.

With respect to what steps the Indians might take at this point, having heardthe president's speech and having seen the actions over the last three days, andother actions that President Musharraf took before that, I hope to have a goodconversation with my Indian associates and colleagues and get their assessmentof it. And in the course of that conversation, I am quite sure I might have someideas that I wish to share with them.

Question Mr. Secretary, you said earlier today that you thought thatthe views of the Kashmiri people should be taken into account if a peacefulsettlement is to be reached, presumably down the road. Could you elaborate onthat? Are you suggesting a plebiscite or something specific?

Colin Powell: No, I wasn't suggesting anything specific. I think thatKashmir is a very difficult issue, as we all know and is said repeatedly. Thesolution to the problem of Kashmir will only come about through dialogue betweenIndia and Pakistan. And in the course of that dialogue, there will be manyissues that have to be discussed, many equities that will be placed on the tablefrom both sides.

And what the United States is trying to do is to encourage both sides andhelp create conditions that will allow the beginning of such a dialogue. And inthat dialogue, all the issues, to include how best to find out what the peoplein the region think about things, should be an item for discussion, I wouldthink.

Question Mr. Sattar, I am (inaudible). My question is to the attentionof the visiting Secretary. Mr. Secretary, you are fully aware of the nature ofthe relationship between Pakistan and India, and it is not a secret that Indiahad a very long and intense military cooperation with defunct Soviet Union, nowRussia. Today, Defense Minister of India, while embarking upon visit to UnitedStates, has stated that he is going to discuss with the US authorities theexpansion of military cooperation with the United States of America.

My question to you, Mr. Secretary, is that this expanded capability of Indiawill not pose a further threat to the security of Pakistan in the backdrop ofthe fact that statements of belligerency and aggression are emanating from NewDelhi for Pakistan?

Thank you.

Colin Powell: The United States hopes to have good cooperation with bothIndia and with Pakistan. There will be a US-India relationship and a US-Pakistanrelationship. We want both of those relationships to be strong and to grow inall of their dimensions -- an economic dimension, a security dimension,educational, health care. There are many things we can do with each of thosecountries, and I think help both of those countries then to begin a dialoguewith each other.

One element that we will be talking to both countries about has to do withmilitary cooperation. Military cooperation does not mean that the United Statesis poising itself -- poising itself -- I want to be very careful -- is poisingitself to try to do anything that would destabilize the region. We have beenvery careful with respect to the kinds of military cooperation we involveourselves in, especially when it comes to the sale of weapons.

So I would not be concerned by the fact that Minister Fernandes is visitingthe United States to discuss military issues and various aspects of militarycooperation between the United States and India.

Question Mr. Secretary and Mr. Minister, all the compliments in theworld from Washington, Mr. Foreign Minister, may not change the situation --

Abdul Sattar Foreign.

Question Sorry?

Colin Powell: Foreign Minister.

Question That's what I said. Did I say Prime? I'm so sorry. Anyway,let the record reflect that I know that this is the Foreign Minister.

All the compliments in the world from Washington may not change the situationon the border if India doesn't believe the same strong steps have been takenthat the United States does. How frustrating is it for you that the stepsMusharraf is taking have been somewhat unappreciated by India so far? Do youthink it's the list that is still causing a big problem, or is it the concernsthat some of these arrested are being released? How frustrating is that for you?

And Mr. Secretary, since we now know you have extraordinary powers ofpersuasion, what do you expect to tell India that they can't see for themselves?If they don't see what's happening and believe it's enough, what can you tellthem? And how is this different from being a mediator that you don't -- the wordyou don't want to use?

Abdul Sattar I think most Pakistanis are used to the rhetoric thatemerges frequently from the Indian side, will agree with me that the reaction ofthe Minister of External Affairs of India on the 13th of this month to thePresident's statement was uncharacteristically positive. And we welcome that.

In any case, what both of us need to do is really to recognize that thetension that has been built up doesn't serve the interest of the people ofeither India or Pakistan, that it is in our mutual interest to step back and tosee that the best road to the future is through peaceful settlement of thedisputes that exist between our two countries. And in that context, may I justexpress a certain regret that Agra did not succeed. Had it succeeded, we wouldhave a structure of dialogue available to us so that either side would make aproposal and begin a dialogue at any level on any subject that is of concern tothe two countries.

So, in brief, I think all of us have reason to be anxious, because the forcesare poised on the borders. And so long as they are in the present deploymentcondition, even an unintentional -- even a small incident can spark a chain ofevents that is not in the interest of peace.

So quite clearly, it is necessary, as soon as possible, to move firstly tostopping the escalation of the tension and of the forces on the borders, andsecondly to begin a process of de-escalation and disengagement. And I want toassure you, on behalf of the Government of Pakistan, we will immediately respondto any initiative that the Government of India takes towards de-escalation anddisengagement.