US extends full support to Vajpayee's peace initiative

Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber (L) greets Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Thursday in front of the Bavarian Parliament in Munich. Vajpayee arrived in Germany two days ago starting a week-long tour of Germany, Russia and France, where he is to attend a meeting of Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries and 12 developing nations. Photo: AFP

The US administration has expressed full support for the peace initiative that India has undertaken in Kashmir with the offer of talks to Pakistan.

US sources here are specifically focused on the fact that despite a number of provocations, India has not substantively changed its position from the Prime Minister's offer of peace to Pakistan as announced in Srinagar in the third week of April.

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While there is no formal meeting planned between President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee, the two leaders will get a chance to exchange a few words during the course of the summit. It is understood from sources close to the administration that the President will express his support and appreciation to the Indian Prime Minister for the peace moves that he has undertaken with Pakistan.

The administration is well aware that violence in Jammu and Kashmir continues unabated.

Infiltration levels are again going up and just this week the Indian Army fought a major counter terrorism battle at Surankote in the Doda district where over a hundred Pakistani militants from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had entrenched themselves. The Army operation led to the killing of as many as 62 militants and the diaries found on their person confirmed the Pakistan link.

Despite the provocations and especially the Surankote incident which many analysts are referring to as a "mini Kargil" the Indian Prime Minister has not deviated from the path he announced at Srinagar and this has gone down very well with the administration.

"India's patience and determination to deal with terrorism have won New Delhi high marks in Washington", commented a US source and it is this thought process which the President will pass along to Vajpayee at Avian.

As things stand the US is not about to present a "roadmap" on Kashmir to the India either now or in the foreseeable future. The administration is glad that New Delhi seems to have partially accepted Pakistan's reasoning that cross-border infiltration is not totally of its doing but that individual groups with their own agenda were at the forefront of the infiltration.