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Clinton, Gore hope

Pak-US ties will

continue to grow

WASHINGTON: US President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al-Gore have expressed the hope that Pakistan-US relations would continue to improve and grow in strength.

In separate messages to the 17th annual convention of the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA0 at St. Louis (Missouri), both leaders commended the role being played by Pakistani community organizations in the United States in promoting better understanding and friendship between the two countries.

Three leading Congressmen of the ruling Democratic Party who addressed the participants of the convention on Saturday, expressed strong support to the initiative undertaken by the Clinton Administration and Republican Senator Hank Brown for easing Pressler sanctions against Pakistan. They included chief whip of the party David Bonier, Rep. Martin Martinez from California and Rep.Tim Johnson from South Dakota.

The four-day convention which concluded on Sunday was one of the largest ever Pakistani community event. It attracted a record number of over 1,200 Pakistani physicians. Representatives of several other organizations of Pakistan-American community also attended the convention on special invitation. For four days the Bets Hotel of St. Louis had a Pakistani carnival atmosphere being virtually taken over by physicians, their families and children from across the United States.

Saturday's event highlighted the convention. Apart from the three Congressmen, Syed Iftikhar Gillani (MNA) and Ambassador Dr. Maleeha Lodhi spoke in the afternoon session. The Pakistan Political Action Committee of Physicians (Pak-PAC) hosted_ a lunch in honour of the delegates while celebrated Qawwal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan gave a 4-hour stunning performance at a dinner reception hosted by APPNA on Saturday night.

Congressmen Tim Johnson from South Dakota was specially invited to the convention. He will be contesting the Senate seat next year against Larry Pressler who is seeking re-election as the Republican Party's nominee. Pressler is trailing Johnson by 11 points in the opinion polls and at this point is the only Republican senator believed to be in trouble for the 1996 polls.

Tim Johnson, assured the Pakistani community he would work for bringing "balance and fairness" in the US policy towards Pakistan.

Rep. David Bonier, Chief Whip of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives, in his keynote address at the APPNA dinner on Saturday night came out in strong support of Pakistan on the equipment and Kashmir issues.

Bonier said he not only fully supported the initiative for release of arms to Pakistan, but also favoured supply of F-16 planes in accordance with the terms of the contract.

He castigated India for its denial of the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir and its continued human rights abuses in the valley.

"I feel that US assistance to India and even its overall relations with that country must be made contingent on how India behaves on the issue of Kashmir", Bonier observed amid effusive applause from the audience.

Rep. Martin Martinez in his speech to the Pak-PAC luncheon said the Pressler Amendment had driven a wedge between Pakistan and the United States. It aimed at Pakistan in South Asia, whereas both India and Pakistan were nuclear states, with Indian even having tested a device in 1974.

The Democratic leader from California disclosed that the Indian government was campagning against the modification of the Pressler amendment and the Indian-American community had enthuiastically joined this campaign to block the proposed Congressional changes in the Pressler law.

Syed Iftikhar Gillani MNA(PML-N) in is speech criticized the Pressler Amendment and warned the Americans that India could not be a reliable friend.

Dr. Ikramullah Khan, President of the Pak-PAC, welcomed the current efforts for modifying the Pressler law.

Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi in her address to the Pak-PAC luncheon and the APPNA dinner commended Pakistani community as extraordinarily successful unofficial envoys of goodwill for Pakistan and thanked them for their help and support, particularly in recent month for lobbying in the US Senate. "With your help we will achieve our goal of ending the iniquitious treatment of Pakistan under the Pressler Amendment", she said adding that the ultimate goal is the scrapping of this discriminatory piece of legislation.

Dr. Lodhi said Pakistan's position on nuclear non-proliferation now stood vindicated by the US recognition that the proliferation issue can only be resolved at the regional level. The turning point came during the Prime Minister's April visit in Washington, when President Clinton declared at the joint press conference tht non-proliferation had to be pursued at the regional or subcontinental level, she said.

She said the United States now clearly understands and accepts that Pakistan cannot be expected to make unilateral gestures not matched by India - and also that the US is obligated to return to Pakistan equipment for which the latter has paid or to refund the money.

"The task for the Administration is to translate this policy into practical steps and we will continue to help make this happen," she observed.

Dr. Lodhi emphasized that the real significance of the developments in the past year lies in the change in US policy in the acceptance of Pakistani position. "This is far more important in the long run than the modest inventory of embargoed military equipment", she said.

She said the claim by Pakistan's opponents that the release of limited military equipment will upset the regional balance and promote instability in South Asia was ridiculous and preposterous. There is no such balance of conventional power, since India's conventional weapons strength far exceeds that of Pakistan.

In fact, she said, peaceand stability in South Asia is actually threatened by the existing asymmetry in conventional weapons between Pakistan and India. The underlying cause for regional insecurity is the continuing lack of resolution of the Kashmir issue. As long as the people of Kashmir are denied their inalienable right of self-determination, peace in South Asia will remain elusive, she added.

Two non-physician Pak-Americans, Safi Qureshi (owner of AST Computers) and Rashid Chaudhry, were honoured at the APPNA dinner for their services.-APP