Suspicions run deeper between India, Pak: Kerry

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Dec 5 (PTI) The Indo-Pak border situation has
"improved" but suspicions continue to run deeper between the
two countries, according to influential US Senator John Kerry,
who is a key foreign policy aide to President Barack Obama.
"It (situation along the Indo-Pak border) has improved in
the last few months. The tensions over Mumbai have been deep.
And the suspicions run even deeper," he told PBS news channel.
He was responding to a question if Indians were helping
the Obama Administration in its efforts in Pakistan, which is
fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda militants in its northwest
region bordering Afghanistan.
Kerry said the tension between India and Pakistan is not
just related to Mumbai.
"These are people who've gone to war three times and who
have this sort of quiet war on the front in Kashmir constantly
going on," he said. "So I think that it is very, very
important for us to help change that equation."
"I think there are things we can do and some things we
should pay more attention to," Kerry said.
He said the Pakistanis are constantly believing that
Indian influence in Afghanistan is too great, that they are
being encircled, in a sense.
"There are even people who have believed that we have a
plot to somehow secure their nuclear weapons. I mean the level
of mistrust and even paranoia in the region is extraordinary.
It's one of the things we have to work through," Kerry said.
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