Clinton asks Pakistan to resolve water dispute with India itself

By admin - Wed Mar 24, 8:42 pm

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The United States has doused a major Pakistani complaint against India on water sharing, telling Islamabad it would be “sensible” to look to the existing bilateral mechanism to resolve the issue with New Delhi.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rejected Islamabad’s efforts to have Washington mediate in its grievance against India on water issues, while offering US help on better using its existing resources.

“We’re well aware that there is a 50-year-old agreement between Pakistan and India concerning water,” Clinton told an interview to two Private TV Channels. “Where there is an agreement… with mediation techniques, arbitration built in, it would seem sensible to look to what already exists to try to resolve any of the bilateral problems between India and Pakistan.”

The US wanted to “help Pakistan make better use of the water that you do have. That’s going to have to be the first priority in countries including our own.”

“Let’s see what we do to protect our aquifers. Let’s see what we do to be more efficient in the use of our water. Let’s see what we do to capture more rainwater; how do we actually use less of it to produce more crops? We think we have some ideas with our experts that we want to sit down and talk with your experts about and see where that goes,” she said in what appeared to be an effort to defuse Pakistani grievance.

Answering to a question, she was sure Pakistan was going to raise the issue of a civilian nuclear deal and “we’re going to be considering it,” she disclosed, but added “I can’t prejudge or preempt what the outcome of our discussions will be.”

In an interview to another Pakistani TV channel, Clinton further elaborated this point, saying that the two sides were going to discuss “many issues, including that one, which the Pakistani delegation wishes to raise. And we’re going to really go deep into all of these”.

When pressed for a more categorical answer, she said: “I am absolutely convinced we have a long way to go. We can’t just wave that magic wand and say we’ve eliminated the trust deficit, we fully understand each other. This takes time, and we have to build it step by step. But I’m very committed to this process.”

Reminded that the US had already signed a nuclear deal with India the secretary said: “That was the result of many, many years of strategic dialogue. It did not happen easily or quickly.”

The US and Pakistan, she said, were building the basis of “an open, transparent and frank” relationship. “That’s what countries that develop that level of trust and confidence can do with each other.”

Secretary Clinton, when reminded that Pakistan needed nuclear power plants to produce electricity, said there were other specific measures that the country could take to meet its energy needs.

“And I think on the energy issue specifically, there are more immediate steps that can be taken that have to help with the grid, have to help with other sources of energy, to upgrade power plants and the like,” she said. “And we are certainly looking at those and we want to help Pakistan with its immediate and its long-term energy needs.”

The top US diplomat assured the Pakistanis that her country was committed to further enhancing its relationship with Pakistan but doing so takes time.

“It’s not the kind of commitment that you easily produce overnight or even within a year. But it is important to get started, to sort it out, and to develop the trust and the confidence between us,” she said. “And we will be moving forward. We’ll have our next session in the future in Islamabad.”

This week’s talks in Washington, she noted, had a very broad agenda and “I think the fact that we have come to a point where we’re going to have a serious strategic dialogue at the highest level of government is quite a move”.