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US lawmakers divided over lifting India sanctions

There is a sharp divide amongst US lawmakers over the issue of lifting sanctions against India. While Senator Sam Brownback professes that sanctions must be lifted forthwith, US State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher has chosen to tread with caution over the issue.

Addressing an audience at a banquet in honour of Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj, Brownback, former chairman of the Senate subcommittee dealing with the Near East and South Asia, said: "Hope you heard about the robust and growing relationship between India and the United States. That is the clear message you are getting from the new administration."

Speaking about the Indo-US trade relations he said, "You have to create proper atmospherics. To do that, there is a three-word message: Lift the sanctions."

After the banquet, he said that his confidence is based on what has been happening. US President Bush is reportedly planning a trip to India early next year. All these things would be put in place to create the right atmosphere for a successful visit.

Meanwhile, while briefing newspersons on the deliberations of the luncheon meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar in Washington, Boucher said that the United States' sanctions on India and Pakistan, imposed after both the countries went nuclear in 1998, will not be lifted in one go and a decision on this issue will be taken on the basis of relationship with the country.

''We take each of these on its merits. We look at the progress and where things are going in individual relationship and decide what we can do in those terms.''

Earlier in the day, Powell, addressing a joint news conference along with Sattar, said they discussed how one gets through the process of eventually lifting the sanctions in South Asia.

''We will be dealing with all of those issues as we move forward in a spirit of dialogue and co-operation,'' he added.

Boucher, replying to a volley of questions whether the sanctions against India would be lifted before that of Pakistan and the terms and conditions for ending it, said that some sanctions against India and Pakistan are same while some of them are different, adding, there is little bit of comparison but not much.

'The important thing to the United States is that nuclear developments are not carried any farther, and to that extent, the emphasis this administration would apply is there should be no further testing,'' Boucher clarified.

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