March 22, 2000
New Delhi - US President Bill Clinton today made a subtle suggestion for involving Washington in resolving the Kashmir problem on the lines of the solution found to the Kargil conflict.
Maintaining that he had not come to South Asia to mediate the dispute over Kashmir, he said "only India and Pakistan can work out the problems between them. I will say the same thing to General Musharraf in Islamabad. "But if outsiders cannot resolve this problem, I hope you will create the opportunity to do it yourself ... calling on the support of others who can help where possible as American diplomacy did in urging the Pakistanis to go back behind the Line of Control in the Kargil crisis."
The US President also repeated his beliefs on what should be done in the meantime - there should be a time for restraint, for respect for the Line of Control and for renewed lines of communication. Clinton was addressing the members of both the Houses of Parliament in the Central Hall and touched a wide range of subjects including doing some plain speaking to India on why it should follow nuclear restraint and sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
