US Senator asks Clinton to broker peace between India, Pak

An influential US Senator has asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to broker peace between India and Pakistan, which according to him is crucial for the stability in the region and important for Islamabad to fully focus on the war on terrorism.

"If the current tensions and hostilities between India and Pakistan could be eliminated or reduced, Pakistan might be persuaded to increase its military forces to aid us in the fight against the Taliban," Senator Arlen Spector said in a letter to Clinton on September 9.

"I urge you and your Department to undertake an initiative to broker a peace treaty between India and Pakistan if you are not already doing so," Spector said in his letter, a copy of which was released today.

Spector, who at present is the fifth oldest member of the US Senate, was elected to the Senate in 1980 as a Republican from Pennsylvania.

Senator Spector, who on April 28 this year announced his decision to join the ruling Democratic party, sought the views of Clinton on repeated Pakistani claim that India is a threat to it.

"I am also interested in your view as to whether India poses a realistic threat to Pakistan which warrants devoting military force to that potential threat, which diverts a military contribution which could aid the US in our fight against the Taliban," he asked.

Speaking on the Senate Floor today, Spector said he has also written similar letters to Secretary of Defence Robert Gates, CIA Director Leon Panetta, DNI Director Dennis Blair and Admiral Mike Mullen.

"The questions which have been posed in the series of letters which I have outlined go to the issue as to whether India poses a threat to Pakistan. It is hard for me to contemplate that is a serious problem, but we ought to be informed and we ought to be putting our efforts to seeing if we cannot broker a peace treaty between India and Pakistan, which would enable us to get substantial help from Pakistan in our fight against the Taliban," Spector said.

"If we could ease the tension between those two countries, if we could persuade Pakistan that India does not pose a threat so Pakistan would not have to marshal their forces along the Indian border but instead could aid the US in our fight against the Taliban, it would be a very different proposition," he argued on the Senate floor.

Spector opposed the idea of extend $7.5 billion in additional funding to Pakistan. "It seems to me that is not a good use of our money if it is to follow the same trail as the $15.5 billion which we have expended in the immediate past," he said.

"If we can get the assistance of Pakistan in fighting the Taliban, it would be one thing. If we could be assured that the money was being used for the intended purpose and not diverted for other purposes, as it appears the other $15.5 billion was, it would be a very different picture," he said.