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India urges Clinton not to visit Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The Indian ambassador to the United States, Naresh Chandra, has urged US President Bill Clinton not to visit Pakistan during his South Asian tour in a month's time.

"(The) fund of goodwill that would be created by the visit of the President to India would be diminished," warned Ambassador Chandra at a conference in Washington.

Clinton is due to visit India and Bangladesh on 20-25 March, but the US has set conditions on Islamabad if he is to add Pakistan to his itinerary.

The US officials have repeatedly said the president would go only if Gen. Pervez Musharraf were to make clear moves towards returning Pakistan to civilian rule.

Some key US senators have urged Clinton to put Pakistan back on his itinerary for the sake of regional security, ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to help combat terrorism and drug trafficking.

But Chandra warned that Islamabad would only make political and diplomatic capital out of a presidential visit.

"It is likely to be hailed as a great diplomatic victory, and what signal would be going to the people of Pakistan?" he asked. "They will start settling down to a nice long tenure of military rule."

The ambassador further said that the people of India had to "undergo a lot of hardship" at the hands of Pakistan in recent months, meaning a Clinton trip there would make Indians "feel bad".

Clinton's visit is keenly awaited in India, which has not played host to a US president since Jimmy Carter in 1978. PPI