*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON, USA- August 1, 2009: Pakistan raised the issue of India’s involvement in Balochistan with the US, but provided no credible evidence to support their claim, says America’s special envoy Richard Holbrooke. 
Pakistani Pastun people read a copy of Taliban code of conduct in a Pakistani border town of Chaman along the Afghanistan border on Friday, July 31, 2009. A Taliban code of conduct that pledges to limit attacks on civilians and curb suicide bombings appears aimed at mustering support among the Afghan people and refurbishing the militants' international image ahead of peace talks widely expected after next month's presidential elections.
‘I would be misleading, if I said it didn’t come up,’ said Mr Holbrooke when asked if Pakistan brought up this issue during his visit to the country last week.
Responding to the second part of the question — ‘if Pakistan also gave credible evidence to support its claim’ — Mr Holbrooke said: ‘The narrow answer to your question is no.’
Pakistan raised this issue with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well at a bilateral meeting in Egypt on July 16.
On Wednesday, Mr Singh defended the inclusion of Balochistan in an India-Pakistan joint statement issued after the meeting but said he received no dossier from his Pakistani counterpart on India’s alleged involvement.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Pakistan linked its action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba with New Delhi ending its covert operations in Balochistan.
The report said that in conversations with the Obama administration, Pakistan’s army chief indicated that India needed to stop meddling in Balochistan in return for Pakistan’s actions against the Lashkar.
At his briefing in Washington on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Holbrooke also refused to discuss occupied Kashmir, saying that it was outside his area of responsibility.
‘That issue is outside my area of ability to discuss,’ he said when asked to what extent the resolution of the Kashmir issue would help him in achieving the US goal to dismantle, disrupt and defeat the Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Mr Holbrooke cast doubt on the success of Pakistan’s Swat valley offensive, saying that it was unclear if the military had defeated the Taliban in the region or simply driven them underground.
‘We don’t know exactly to what extent the Pakistani army dispersed or destroyed the enemy,’ he told his first media briefing after his visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan last week. ‘The test of this operation is, of course, when the refugees return. Can they go home? Are they safe? And we’re just going to have to wait and see.’
Mr Holbrooke said that during his trip he wanted to visit Swat as well but the Pakistani military advised him not to do so now.
‘I asked to go to Swat or Buner knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to go to Mingora, but I wanted to establish the limits of what was possible here,’ he said.
‘And the military said they really would prefer we didn’t do it now. And look, ‘prefer’ means ‘no’. So we didn’t.’
Mr Holbrooke, however, said the US was in constant touch with Pakistan to help it deal with any spill-over effect of stepped-up operations by international forces on the Afghan side.
He said that top US military commanders in Afghanistan often visited Pakistan to discuss the issue. ‘So the military-to-military discussions are helping to harmonise the situation’ in the area, he said.
The purpose of these consultations, he said, was to alert Islamabad of any movement of militants from Afghanistan into Pakistan.
Mr Holbrooke urged the international community to provide sustained economic support to Pakistan so that it could deal with the problem of the Swat refugees and the economic and energy crises.
‘Pakistan is critically important to the rest of the world’ and could not be ignored.
Secondly, he said, what happened in Pakistan affected Afghanistan.
Mr Holbrooke also praised the Pakistani leadership for shifting some of its forces stationed along its eastern border with India to the western frontier bordering Afghanistan to fight out Taliban and Al Qaeda.
‘The Pakistanis have moved a very large number of troops from their eastern border to their western border. That’s a historically significant redeployment,’ he said.
Pakistani Pastun people read a copy of Taliban code of conduct in a Pakistani border town of Chaman along the Afghanistan border on Friday, July 31, 2009. A Taliban code of conduct that pledges to limit attacks on civilians and curb suicide bombings appears aimed at mustering support among the Afghan people and refurbishing the militants' international image ahead of peace talks widely expected after next month's presidential elections.
‘I would be misleading, if I said it didn’t come up,’ said Mr Holbrooke when asked if Pakistan brought up this issue during his visit to the country last week.
Responding to the second part of the question — ‘if Pakistan also gave credible evidence to support its claim’ — Mr Holbrooke said: ‘The narrow answer to your question is no.’
Pakistan raised this issue with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well at a bilateral meeting in Egypt on July 16.
On Wednesday, Mr Singh defended the inclusion of Balochistan in an India-Pakistan joint statement issued after the meeting but said he received no dossier from his Pakistani counterpart on India’s alleged involvement.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Pakistan linked its action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba with New Delhi ending its covert operations in Balochistan.
The report said that in conversations with the Obama administration, Pakistan’s army chief indicated that India needed to stop meddling in Balochistan in return for Pakistan’s actions against the Lashkar.
At his briefing in Washington on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Holbrooke also refused to discuss occupied Kashmir, saying that it was outside his area of responsibility.
‘That issue is outside my area of ability to discuss,’ he said when asked to what extent the resolution of the Kashmir issue would help him in achieving the US goal to dismantle, disrupt and defeat the Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Mr Holbrooke cast doubt on the success of Pakistan’s Swat valley offensive, saying that it was unclear if the military had defeated the Taliban in the region or simply driven them underground.
‘We don’t know exactly to what extent the Pakistani army dispersed or destroyed the enemy,’ he told his first media briefing after his visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan last week. ‘The test of this operation is, of course, when the refugees return. Can they go home? Are they safe? And we’re just going to have to wait and see.’
Mr Holbrooke said that during his trip he wanted to visit Swat as well but the Pakistani military advised him not to do so now.
‘I asked to go to Swat or Buner knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to go to Mingora, but I wanted to establish the limits of what was possible here,’ he said.
‘And the military said they really would prefer we didn’t do it now. And look, ‘prefer’ means ‘no’. So we didn’t.’
Mr Holbrooke, however, said the US was in constant touch with Pakistan to help it deal with any spill-over effect of stepped-up operations by international forces on the Afghan side.
He said that top US military commanders in Afghanistan often visited Pakistan to discuss the issue. ‘So the military-to-military discussions are helping to harmonise the situation’ in the area, he said.
The purpose of these consultations, he said, was to alert Islamabad of any movement of militants from Afghanistan into Pakistan.
Mr Holbrooke urged the international community to provide sustained economic support to Pakistan so that it could deal with the problem of the Swat refugees and the economic and energy crises.
‘Pakistan is critically important to the rest of the world’ and could not be ignored.
Secondly, he said, what happened in Pakistan affected Afghanistan.
Mr Holbrooke also praised the Pakistani leadership for shifting some of its forces stationed along its eastern border with India to the western frontier bordering Afghanistan to fight out Taliban and Al Qaeda.
‘The Pakistanis have moved a very large number of troops from their eastern border to their western border. That’s a historically significant redeployment,’ he said.
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