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Brownback says Kargil clashes bely his faith in Indo-Pak friendship, withdraws plan to ease sanctions

C K Arora in Washington

Republican senator Sam Brownback has withdrawn his proposal, seeking to ease nuclear-related sanctions against India and Pakistan because of a resurgence of fighting in Kashmir.

''I was planning to offer an amendment to lift the economic sanctions on India and Pakistan. I did so in the belief that bilateral relations between India and Pakistan had improved. Unfortunately, I was wrong,'' he said in a statement Thursday night.

Brownback's legislation would have rolled back economic sanctions imposed by the United States in response to the nuclear tests by India and Pakistan in May last year.

''I hope to revisit this issue in the near future,'' Brownback said. But he added, ''I will not feel comfortable doing so until there is a serious de-escalation of tension in the subcontinent.''

Brownback had planned to add his sanction-lifting amendment to $ 288 billion defence spending bill.

UNI

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