US President George W. Bush once again rejected Pakistan’s demand of third-party mediation on Kashmir. He said Washington would at best nudge the two countries to carry forward dialogue.
In an interview to Pakistani journalists on Wednesday, Bush was clearly not forthcoming on another key Islamabad demand — a copycat nuke deal. As he put it, the deal with India itself “is just the beginning of a very long process”.
On Kashmir, Bush said: “Our position is one that says a dispute that has been so long in a nation’s history can best be resolved when two nations make the determination to sit down and come up with a solution that is acceptable to all sides.” The journalists wanted to know if Bush had “any specific proposals” since the bilateral approach was “not going anywhere”.
On the nuke deal, he said: “India is in need of diversification away from fossil fuels. To the extent to which we can get fast-growing nations to use something other than fossil fuel, it’s in the world’s interest.”