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US not to declare Pakistan a terrorist state: Boucher

T V Parasuram in Washington

The United States made it emphatically clear that it will not declare Pakistan a terrorist state as it had been a 'stalwart ally' in America's fight against terrorism.

"As far as putting Pakistan on the terrorism list, just to point out again Pakistan has been a stalwart ally in the fight against terrorism," the US state department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Wednesday.

His comment came close on the heels of Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani's statement in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday saying that if US had threatened to declare Pakistan a terrorist state, Islamabad would have taken effective steps to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure within its territory.

Boucher also said that infiltration across the Line of Control is down ever since Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf pledged to stop it permanently.

"President Musharraf has announced some fairly bold measures within his own society to try to move Pakistan on a more moderate course, and our interest is in helping Pakistan on a more moderate course, and our interest is in helping Pakistan move in that direction," he added.

"As we have mentioned before, President Musharraf has assured us that infiltration across the Line of Control will end permanently. We continue to look to him to take the steps to make that effective," Boucher said.

"Ensuring that infiltration across the Line of Control has ended permanently continues to be the highest priority for Pakistan, and we will continue to follow that issue closely," he added.

"The US would also like to discuss the issue of Kashmir and how to continue to reduce the violence, continue to ease the tensions, and continue to end infiltration across the Line of Control," he said.

Asked to comment on the massacre in Jammu last week in which 28 people were killed, Boucher said the US condemned the incident, adding both India and Pakistan should exercise restraint and take steps to reduce violence in the region.

"We believe that the situation cannot be resolved by this kind of conflict. It is vital to all sides in Kashmir to exercise restraint, to take steps to reduce the violence, to try to help create an environment for a political process to resolve the conflict. Violence won't bring peace to Kashmir," he said.

PTI

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