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Ackerman Gets CIA To Brief Caucus on India

A P Kamath in Washington

Congressman Gary Ackerman got top Central Intelligence Agency officials to brief the members of the Congressional Caucus on India about the situation in south Asia, particularly in Pakistan.

Congressional insiders termed the hour-long briefing unprecedented and clearly indicative of the maturing relations between Washington and New Delhi. The closed-door meeting this week highlighted the concern Washington has about Pakistan following the army take-over of the country.

The briefing took place at the initiative of Congressman Gary L Ackerman, the co-chairman of the Caucus who cautioned the Clinton Administration against condoning the military rule in Pakistan.

He said, "The administration will be doing a great mistake if it in any way initiates measures to 'accommodate' the military rulers simply citing the supercilious argument that 'there is no alternative in sight'.

"The Pakistani peoples' wishes, their democratic wishes, is the real solution."

The New York Democrat warned, "The demise of democracy -- which I hope is only temporary -- spells danger to the whole of south Asia."

He was especially concerned "that the military rulers of Pakistan may turn out to be as reckless as they have proved to be in aborting democracy in their nation, in their dealings with the neighboring democracy, India."

He lauded Secretary of State Madeline Albright's call that Pakistan should pull back its forces from the Line of Control in Kashmir to build confidence with India.

On October 27 a House panel unanimously passed a resolution urging President Clinton to "broaden our [the US's] special relationship with India into a strategic partnership."

In introducing the resolution, Ackerman, a leading member of the House International Relations Committee, told the Subcommittee on Asia and Pacific of the House International Relations, "It is high time we seriously begin to recognize this fact and graduate from mere platitudes to some tangible policy changes toward India."

Asking the administration to "abandon old paradigms and Cold War hangs," Ackerman said, "India, a democracy, is our natural ally in the region."

The resolution, Ackerman said, "recognizes the Indian peoples' abiding commitment to democracy and salutes them for the passion with which they choose their own destiny.

"No country reflects our own values more in that part of the world than does India."

In a related development, Ackerman told the subcommittee that the words of Islamabad's new military leader are not to be believed.

"Notwithstanding General Pervez Musharraf's moderate words, we should not be lulled into thinking that this will be a moderate government," Ackerman said.

"After all, he has suspended the constitution and the elected national and provincial assemblies, dismissed the government and declared a state of emergency. He is also the author of Pakistan's ill-fated invasion of India last summer," Ackerman said, adding that he was concerned that America has not heard from General Musharraf.

"We did not hear a clear timetable for new elections and the re-establishment of democratic government," he continued. "We issue a call upon the Pakistani rulers to immediately announce a time-table for the restoration of democracy."

Questioning the apologists for the military rule, he said, "The people of Pakistan are not celebrating the demise of democracy; they are, at best, celebrating the demise of an allegedly corrupt government."

He also urged the Pakistani regime to cut off its relations with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

"No regime in Pakistan should be having anything to do with the medieval forces of Taliban," he said.

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