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U.S. Warns India Against Pakistan Attack
By Associated Press
April 4, 2003, 6:15 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration said Friday that India must not use the U.S.-led pre-emptive war against Iraq as a pretext for an attack on Pakistan.
"Any attempts to draw parallels between the Iraq and Kashmir situations are wrong and are overwhelmed by the differences between them," said State Department spokeswoman Joanne Prokopowicz.
She was responding Thursday to a comment Thursday by India's Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha that India would be justified in taking pre-emptive action across the Pakistan border.
"We derive some satisfaction because I think all those people in the international community must realize that India has a much better case to go for pre-emptive action against Pakistan than the U.S. has in Iraq," Sinha said.
He added that India will do whatever is necessary to fight terrorism.
Citing Iraq's 12-year refusal to disarm in the face of U.N. Security Council resolutions, Prokopowicz said the circumstances that made military actions necessary in Iraq do not apply in the subcontinent and should not be considered a precedent.
"The U.S. recognizes the very serious nature of the situation in Kashmir," she said. "Our joint statement last week with the United Kingdom made clear our repugnance of the killings of innocents that have been taking place in Kashmir with alarming frequency."
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press