Powell downplays hopes on Kashmir - Secretary of State travels to New Delhi, then Islamabad

CNN.com ^ | July 27, 2002 Posted: 9:50 AM EDT (1350 GMT) | Andrea Koppel, CNN State Department

[AM2000]

U.S. NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA, Italy (CNN) --On the eve of his third visit to the subcontinent, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell downplayed expectations that he can achieve a breakthrough and succeed in jump-starting long-stalled talks on Kashmir between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan.

[AM2000]

He also planned to ... urge Pakistan to ensure nothing disturbs the elections -- an allusion to Pakistani-backed Islamic militants.

And why would Pakistan listen to him? It is in Pakistans best interests to discredit these elections - and what better way to do that than to reduce turnout to a trickle with a few dramatic attacks on voters or voting installations? They've done it before and I believe they will do it again.

A note to indexers - I am indexing this thread with this post.

[Free the USA]

Index Bump

[aristeides]

Monsoons end in September, don't they? I wonder what India will do if the U.S. is busy invading Iraq at that point.

[I'mAllRightJack]

The New York Times has a front page article that sympathizes with the Moslems that have been killed and generally mistreated by the Hindu populace in India. Their use of adjectives is a beautiful thing to see. They can evoke much concern and sympathy for these mal-treated Moslems.

This is not far different than their support of the Palestinians and the Moslems in the Balkans. Has the New York Times also supported the Moslems in Indonesia and/or in Europe?

You've got to give it to the Times for their consistency.

[Dog Gone]

If Pakistan doesn't disrupt the elections, any number of independent terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, certainly have the motivation.

I would be amazed if the elections are held without serious terrorist attacks.

[swarthyguy]

Pretty Dry this year in Punjab.....

A Sikh farmer pushes his bicycle over his dry rice paddy farm land in Ropar, Punjab July 26, 2002. India's four-month southwest monsoon, the lifeline of agriculture and the economy, has turned into a nightmare as patchy rainfall in many parts of the country raises the spectre of the worst drought in more than a decade. REUTERS/Dikpak Kumar

[aristeides]

Oh those poor Moslems in India! Their cousins in Pakistan treat Hindus so kindly, don't they? I wonder why there are essentially no Hindus left in Pakistan. Couldn't they stand the kind treatment?

[aristeides]

No monsoons this year? I guess all the Indians have to wait for, then, is for the U.S. to invade Iraq.

[swarthyguy]

Musharraf does have his own elections to worry about in October. But he's coming up roses; the Kashmir Jihad has been successfully decoupled from other jihads around the world. A jihadi in Afghanistan transiting through Pakistan turns into a freedom fighter by the time he reaches Kashmir.

Just recently, Musharraf proclaimed to a set of mullahs of his unwavering commitment to preserving pakistan as an islamic state. So much for the memory of Jinnah and the example of Ataturk.

Now he was either lying to them or he's been lying to us.
He could be laying the groundwork for another surprise attack to attain his lifetime goal of the dismemberment of India. The proxy war in Kashmir has worked. India's on the defensive and he's wooed by the USA to keep up his stalwart efforts in the War on (Some) Terror.

He gets immense personal and professional satisfaction and achieves mythical wargod status in the saudi arabislamic universe.

[swarthyguy]

Grounds dry; no postmonsoon lakes, bogs and streams. And no crop to be destroyed.

[AM2000]

The monsoon has been erratic this year. The northwestern part of India seems to be the focus of a severe drought this year, while some coastal regions are getting inundated with abnormally high rainfall.. but it's pretty dry where it counts for the purposes of this thread, so fight on, what are they waiting for?

[RightWhale]

Six weeks, shest , sechs, seis, exi, sitta, roku, sita, ses semajno. Sorry, no hindi.

tick . . . tick . . . tick

[AM2000]

chhe...

[mikeIII]

If Pakistan stops sponsoring terrorists and behaves, it will cease to be a country of any significance, Musharraf will stop getting the attention, the pats on his back and the huge aid packages.