Have incidents like last weeks bombings in Islamabad forced America to reconsider Pakistan as its ally?
We don’t see Pakistan as an ally at all. That notion disappeared a long time ago. There were people who had favoured Pakistan because of historical reasons, but those things do not exist anymore. At the same time, India’s good work in sorting out differences with the US on different issues has helped. The US was a big supporter of then Pakistan dictator General Zia-ul Haq. Another general is now in charge in Islamabad. Do you see any similarities between the two situations? No, as I told you, the situation has changed now. We are very concerned about Nawaz Sharief’s well-being. The United Nations intervened after East Timor’s referendum for independence. Do you think that could happen in Kashmir too? I don’t know whether the UN intervened in East Timor’s referendum. That was the process which was agreed upon by all parties and the UN decision was aimed at protecting the lives of innocent people who were being slaughtered by the military. So that was a humanitarian method. The important
