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South Asia: Armitage Meets With Top Indian Officials U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met Saturday with top Indian officials, including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, as part of an effort to help reduce tensions between India and Pakistan (see GSN, May 9). Armitage said it would be India’s responsibility to assess Pakistan’s intentions with regard to the issue of cross-border terrorism in the disputed region of Kashmir, a potential flashpoint between the two countries. He added that it was not the United States’ responsibility to give India assurances over Pakistan’s pledges to end cross-border terrorism (Amit Baruah, The Hindu, May 11). Vajpayee Criticizes Sanctions Meanwhile, Vajpayee yesterday said that technological sanctions against India were discriminatory because several countries “guilty of missile and nuclear proliferation” continue to receive aid. India remains subject to sanctions imposed after it conducted its first nuclear test in 1974, as well as to sanctions imposed during the 1980s under the Missile Technology Control Regime, Vajpayee said. He also complained that India was a victim of a “double standard.” “Countries guilty of missile and nuclear proliferation have not attracted sanctions,” Vajpayee said. “Some even continue to receive liberal economic assistance,” he said without naming specific countries. India has never received recognition for its self-imposed restraint on nuclear- and ballistic missile-related transfers, Vajpayee said. “We have denied ourselves many lucrative contracts and joint ventures,” he said (Reuters/Business Recorder, May 12). During a series of meetings last week with U.S. officials, Indian National Security Adviser Birjesh Mishra called on the United States to provide India with dual-use technologies for its nonmilitary space and nuclear programs. During his visit to the United States, which ended Saturday, Mishra told U.S. officials that India was seeking dual-use technologies for use in its scientific research and development programs and not for military purposes. The Bush administration, however, said U.S. nonproliferation laws prevent the transfer of technologies to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, such as India (Jawed Naqvi, DAWN, May 12).
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