U.S. State Department Press Briefing
21 July 1999

[Rubin = State Dept. Spokesman]

...QUESTION: Apparently there might have been more infiltration across the line of control. And I just wondered whether this --

MR. RUBIN: Where?

QUESTION: The line of control.

MR. RUBIN: In which part of the world?

QUESTION: In Kashmir.

…QUESTION: And I was just wondering whether these incursions were just unfortunate militants that Pakistan wasn't able to control or whether Pakistan deserves some blame for this.

MR. RUBIN: Fifteen inhabitants of a village in the Doda district of Indian-held Kashmir were killed yesterday by gunmen, as were four laborers in another part of the Indian state. These are only the most recent of a number of attacks against civilians, both Hindu and Muslim.

As Secretary Albright said yesterday, we condemn attacks against civilians, those who perpetrate them and those who give assistance to the perpetrators. Acts of terrorism must stop immediately. Violent action against innocents, whatever their source, make the Kashmir conflict more, not less, difficult to resolve.

The continuing violence in and around Kashmir underlines the pressing need for India and Pakistan to resolve the differences that separate them. We hope that India and Pakistan will resume their dialogue under the Lahore Process.

We are not in a position to make an independent determination of responsibilities for these killings. We do believe, however, that militant groups with leaders and infrastructure in Pakistan are among those connected with killings of civilians in Indian-held Kashmir. We have, for example, designated one such group - the Harakat Ul-Ansar -- as a terrorist organization, about two years ago. We call on the government of Pakistan and all others with influence on these groups to press them toward restraint.

QUESTION: Do you see this, though, as somehow a violation of Sharif's agreement with President Clinton? Will you go that far?

MR. RUBIN: No, I think on the contrary what we've said is that we believe that the steps necessary have been taken to follow through on the commitments that Prime Minister Sharif made, and that we are not in a position to make an independent determination of responsibility for these particular killings. Therefore, one couldn't draw the conclusion that you asked about.