20000210

ZClinton deeply concerned about South Asian discord

WASHINGTON: President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday he was "profoundly concerned" about the discord between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan and said he hoped to do something to ease it before leaving office.

The president, who is scheduled to travel to India and Bangladesh in March, said he had not yet decided whether to make a stop in Pakistan, which has earned U.S. criticism for its October 1999 military coup.

The trip -- originally scheduled to take place in 1998 -- has been repeatedly put off because of the tit-for-tat nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan in May 1998 and their conflict last summer over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Clinton, describing South Asia as "that troubled part of the world," suggested that the potential for conflict between the two countries was far greater than is commonly understood.

"It has enormous implications for people in the United States and throughout the world -- more I suspect than most people know," Clinton told reporters during an unrelated White House event.

"I hope in the time that I have here that we can make some progress because it is something that I remain profoundly concerned about for years and years into the future," he said.

The United States has left open the possibility of adding Pakistan to Clinton's trip but has given no indication that there is much chance of this actually happening.

"We haven't made a decision on the final itinerary yet," he told reporters. "I want to make a trip which maximizes the possibilities not only for constructive partnership for the United States in the years ahead but even more urgently for peace in that troubled part of the world."-Reuters