India and Pakistan perhaps for the first time joined hands here on Sunday rejecting US overtures to mediate in resolving bilateral disputes between the two countries. At the India global forum meet organised by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, former US Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill and former American Pacific commander Admiral (retd.) Dennis C. Blair in their presentations sent Pakistani envoys General (rtd) Jehangir Karamat and Shahid Malik squirming.
22 April 2008: Kashmir Times
India and Pakistan perhaps for the first time joined hands here on Sunday rejecting US overtures to mediate in resolving bilateral disputes between the two countries. At the India global forum meet organised by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, former US Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill and former American Pacific commander Admiral (retd.) Dennis C. Blair in their presentations sent Pakistani envoys General (rtd) Jehangir Karamat and Shahid Malik squirming.
While Blackwill said the US and India needed to "talk in very private" about Pakistan since its future was "so highly uncertain", the former US Commander called for joint India-US counter-insurgency opera- tions in Jammu and Kashmir and Afghanistan. These suggestions were not only rejected by Pakistani delegates Karamat and Malik, but also by the Indian strategists attending the meeting. They too snubbed the US strategists for seeking a political role in South Asia.
India-Pak dialogue more important than Washington: Irked at Blackwell's suggestions, General (Retd.) Jehangir Karamat, former chief of the Pakistan Army and Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S, who attended the Forum meetings told Americans that India- Pakistan bilateral dialogue was far more important than any dialogue with Washington.
Echoing Karamat, Pakistan's High Commissioner in India Shahid Malik also asked US delegates to allow India and Pakistan to conduct their relations bilaterally. Pointing towards recent elections which were conducted under extremely fair and transparent conditions, Malik said there was no reason for anyone to jump to "hasty conclusions" about the future of his country. "Things are falling into place, so please be patient with us," he said. "On Pakistan-India relations, my advice is to let both Pakistan and India con-duct our relations bilaterally. We are quite capable of doing so.
Go to IGF Homepage
