| The lawmaker has suggested to Obama that he make India his first stop |
Jim McDermott
NEW DELHI: A leading American lawmaker, Jim McDermott of the Democratic Party, feels that the activities of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence “are of mutual concern” to both India and the United States and that Washington would remain engaged in its effort to resolve problems in Afghanistan, tribal areas and Pakistan........
Mr. McDermott told The Hindu that while the events in Mumbai drew the issues of Afghanistan and Kashmir “closer and closer to each other so that it is impossible to solve one without convening all the players at the table, I do not know at this time if a special envoy makes sense. The activities of the ISI are of mutual concern to our countries.””
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A strong advocate of granting work permits to people trained in the U.S., he said the 111th Congress would have to get down to immigration reform in all its manifestations but was not prepared to endorse expansion of the H1B visas cap.
Mr. McDermott, who voted against the U.S.-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Enhancement Act this September, said that while his friendship with India “has not [changed] and will never change,” the Act was not in India’s best interest.
“As presented to the House, the legislation undermines the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and that can only serve to destabilise the region in the coming years. In my judgment, there were insufficient safeguards in the bill and that worries me greatly. With nuclear-armed India and Pakistan separated by a border where violence is all too frequent, I cannot see how giving India additional nuclear capacity will not be countered in Pakistan. Despite the goal of providing additional energy, we are in reality fuelling a nuclear arms race.”
What in hell is Jimbo doing on my dime in India. Who cares what this inconsequential snowball thinks?
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