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| No redrawing of boundaries for resolving Kashmir: Singh | | PM says two counties can work together for peace | |
EARLY TIMES DESK
New Delhi, Nov 22 : Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has reiterated that there is no question of New Delhi considering a proposal to redraw the international boundary that separates Indian Kashmir and Pakistan Kashmir.
In an interview given to the Editor of Newsweek International, Fareed Zakaria, in CNN's Global Public Square (GPS) program here ahead of his four-day trip to Washington, Dr. Singh said: "I have publicly stated that there will be no redrawing of public borders. Our two countries can work together to ensure that peace is maintained, that trade is made free and ensure that encouragement is given for people-to-people contact.
Meanwhile agency reports from WASHINGTON added: Ahead of his meeting with President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India has no worries about US honouring the Indo-US nuclear deal, but would like to get a "positive reaffirmation" of the present administration to carry forward the process.
Singh, who will arrive in Washington on a three-day State Visit late tonight, said India would like to operationalise the "watershed" agreement and ensure that the objectives for the nuclear deal are realised in full merit.
"We have no worries, but we would like a positive reaffirmation of this administration to carry forward the process," Singh said in an interview to NewsWeek magazine.
He was asked whether he was concerned about the US honouring the consent agreement.
Singh said the partnership with US was for sustained and sustainable development of India and the new global world order which is in search of a new equilibrium.
"India and the United States could be partners in refocusing our attention on an equitable, balanced, global order," Singh, who will meet Obama on Tuesday, said.
Asked whether India is worried about the Test Ban Treaty which President Obama seems very intent on pushing through the senate, Singh said "Why should we be worried?. We are not worried at all."
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his team land at the Andrews Air Force Base in nearby Maryland on Sunday afternoon (early Monday in India) for the first state visited hosted by the Obama administration, they will find a capital region that is bathed in sunshine, although there is a nip in the air that presages winter, and trees are devoid of foliage, autumn having been swept out.
However, it will rain the following day on Monday, to be followed by another sunny day on Tuesday, before it turns weepy again on Wednesday. Just like US-India ties, you could say. Sounds good one day, bleak the next day. But isn’t that also the story of many stock exchanges — high one day, low the next? And as they tell you, if you are a long-term investor, you just hang in there and not bother about the day-to-day fluctuations.
Ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit, there has been a deluge of commentary from the many policy advice institutions in Washington DC, a city famously said to have more thinktanks in it than many countries have battle tanks. Advice to the Obama administration ranges from the bold — support India for a UN Security Council seat (from Ashley Tellis of Carnegie Endowment) to the brazen — get India to play an even bigger role in Afghanistan (from Selig Harrison of Woodrow Wilson International Center).
However, circumspection is expected to be the order of the day, even though if you go by the fact that this is Singh’s second state visit and the third hosted for India in less than a decade (more than any other country), you’d think the two countries are more than just natural allies or strategic partners . While there is an element of security in the bilateral relationship, India and the US are not allies in the conventional sense and are not likely to be so any time soon, says Walter Anderson, a veteran South Asia hand. His advice: "India will have to formulate its own strategy vis-a-vis its neighbourhood devoid of any unrealistic expectations from Washington, despite the perceived closeness.’’
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