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US Won't Appoint Special Kashmir Envoy

Both the White House and the state department have ruled out the appointment of a 'special envoy' for Kashmir as demanded by some American law-makers.

Veteran Democratic Congressman Gary L Ackerman last night announced that there was ''no change in the Clinton administration's policy toward the Indian state department''. They ''have reiterated to me that there was no question of the United States appointing a 'special envoy' to the resolve the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan''.

The co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Indian and Indian Americans, who issued a statement after discussions with the officials of the two important wings of the government, said, ''I welcome this resolute 'no-special-envoy' position of the administration.''

''The administration realises full well that Kashmir is a bilateral issue that can be best resolved through bilateral dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad,'' Ackerman said.

Ackerman, a ranking member of the House International Relations Committee, said, ''The situation in Kashmir can best be resolved by discussion between India and Pakistan as envisioned in the 1972 Simla Agreement.''

The New York law-maker, who met Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh in the United Nations, said, ''It is in the spirit of the Simla Agreement that the Lahore Declaration was issued last February. In that Declaration both New Delhi and Islamabad renewed their commitments to carry out the Simla accord.''

Specifically, the Lahore Declaration states that the prime ministers of India and Pakistan have agreed that their respective governments shall intensify their efforts to resolve all issues, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.''

''Given all these previous commitments to address the issue of Kashmir on a bilateral basis, I do not believe that internationalisation of the Kashmir question is in any way warranted. Nor do I believe that the United States needs a special envoy to Kashmir,'' he added.

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