[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 15 (Monday, April 17, 1995)]
[Pages 606-611]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of 
Pakistan

April 11, 1995

    The President. Please be seated. Good afternoon. It's a great 
pleasure for me to welcome Prime Minister Bhutto to the White House. I'm 
especially pleased to host her today because of the tremendous 
hospitality that the Prime Minister and the Pakistani people showed to 
the First Lady and to Chelsea on their recent trip.
    I've heard a great deal about the visit, about the people they met, 
their warm welcome at the Prime Minister's home, about the dinner the 
Prime Minister gave in their honor. The food was marvelous, they said, 
but it was the thousands of tiny oil lamps that lit the paths outside 
the Red Fort in Lahore that really gave the evening its magical air. I 
regret that here at the White House I can only match that with the magic 
of the bright television lights. [Laughter]
    Today's meeting reaffirms the longstanding friendship between 
Pakistan and the United States. It goes back to Pakistan's independence. 
At the time, Pakistan was an experiment in blending the ideals of a 
young democracy with the traditions of Islam. In the words of Pakistan's 
first President, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, ``Islam and its idealism have 
taught us democracy. It has taught us the equality of man, justice, the 
fair play to everybody. We are the inheritors of the glorious traditions 
and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations.'' Today 
Pakistan is pursuing these goals of combining the practice of Islam with 
the realities of democratic ideals, moderation, and tolerance.
    At our meetings today, the Prime Minister and I focused on security 
issues that affect Pakistan, its neighbor, India, and the entire South 
Asian region. The United States recognizes and respects Pakistan's 
security concerns. Our close relationships with Pakistan are matched 
with growing ties with India. Both countries are friends of the United 
States, and contrary to some views, I believe it is possible for the 
United States to maintain close relations with both countries.
    I told the Prime Minister that if asked, we will do what we can to 
help these two important nations work together to resolve the dispute in 
Kasmir and other issues that separate them. We will also continue to 
urge both Pakistan and India to cap and reduce and finally eliminate 
their nuclear and missile capabilities. As Secretary Perry stressed 
during his visit to Pakistan earlier this year, we believe that such 
weapons are a source of instability rather than a means to greater 
security. I plan to work with Congress to find ways to prevent the 
spread of nuclear weapons and to preserve the aims of the Pressler 
amendment, while building a stronger relationship with a secure, more 
prosperous Pakistan. Our

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two nations' defense consultative group will meet later this spring.
    In our talks the Prime Minister and I also discussed issues of 
global concern, including peacekeeping and the fight against terrorism 
and narcotics trafficking. I want to thank Prime Minister Bhutto and the 
Pakistani officers and soldiers who have worked so closely with us in 
many peacekeeping operations around the globe, most recently in Haiti, 
where more than 800 Pakistanis are taking part in the United Nations 
operation.
    On the issue of terrorism, I thank the Prime Minister for working 
with us to capture Ramzi Yusuf, one of the key suspects in the bombing 
in the World Trade Center. We also reviewed our joint efforts to bring 
to justice the cowardly terrorist who murdered two fine Americans in 
Karachi last month. I thanked the Prime Minister for Pakistan's effort 
in recent months to eradicate opium poppy cultivation, to destroy heroin 
laboratories, and just last week, to extradite two major traffickers to 
the United States. We would like this trend to continue.
    Finally, the Prime Minister and I discussed the ambitious economic 
reform and privatization programs she has said will determine the well-
being of the citizens of Pakistan and other Moslem nations. Last year, 
at my request, our Energy Secretary, Hazel O'Leary, led a mission to 
Pakistan which opened doors for many U.S. firms who want to do business 
there. Encouraged by economic growth that is generating real dividends 
for the Pakistani people. The United States and other foreign firms are 
beginning to commit significant investments, especially in the energy 
sector. I'm convinced that in the coming years, the economic ties 
between our peoples will grow closer, creating opportunities, jobs and 
profits for Pakistanis and Americans alike.
    Before our meetings today, I was reminded that the Prime Minister 
first visited the White House in 1989 during her first term. She left 
office in 1990, but then was returned as Prime Minister in free and fair 
elections in 1993. Her presence here today testifies to her strong 
abilities and to Pakistan's resilient democracy. It's no wonder she was 
elected to lead a nation that aims to combine the best of the traditions 
of Islam with modern democratic ideals. America is proud to claim 
Pakistan among her closest friends.
    Prime Minister Bhutto. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: I'd like 
to begin by thanking the President for his kind words of support and 
encouragement.
    Since 1989, my last visit to Washington, both the world and Pak-U.S. 
relations have undergone far-reaching changes. The post-cold-war era has 
brought into sharp focus the positive role that Pakistan, as a moderate, 
democratic, Islamic country of 130 million people, can play, and the 
fact that it is strategically located at the tri-junction of South Asia, 
Central Asia, and the Gulf, a region of both political volatility and 
economic opportunity.
    Globally, Pakistan is active in U.N. peacekeeping operations. We are 
on the forefront of the fight against international terrorism, 
narcotics, illegal immigration, and counterfeit currency. We remain 
committed to the control and elimination of weapons of mass destruction, 
as well as the delivery systems on a regional, equitable, and non-
discriminatory basis.
    Since 1993, concerted efforts by Pakistan and the United States to 
broaden the base of bilateral relations have resulted in steady 
progress. In September 1994, in a symbolic gesture, the United States 
granted Pakistan about $10 million in support for population planning. 
This was announced by the Vice President at the Cairo summit on 
population planning. This was followed by the Presidential mission, led 
by Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary, which resulted in agreement worth 
$4.6 billion being signed. And now, during my visit here, we are 
grateful to the administration and the Cabinet Secretaries for having 
helped us sign $6 billion more of agreements between Pakistan and the 
United States.
    During the Defense Secretary's visit to Pakistan in January 1995, 
our countries decided to revive the Pakistan-United States Defense 
Consultative Group. And more recently, we had the First Lady and the 
First Daughter visit Pakistan, and we had an opportunity to discuss 
women's issues and children's issues with the First Lady. And we found 
the First Daughter very knowledgeable. We found Chelsea very 
knowledgeable

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on Islamic issues. I'm delighted to learn from the President that 
Chelsea is studying Islamic history and has also actually read our holy 
book, the Koran Shariah.
    I'm delighted to have accepted President Clinton's invitation to 
Washington. This is the first visit by a Pakistani Chief Executive in 6 
years. President Clinton and I covered a wide range of subjects, 
including Kashmir, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Gulf, Pakistan-India 
relations, nuclear proliferation, U.N. peacekeeping, terrorism, and 
narcotics.
    I briefed him about corporate America's interest in Pakistan, which 
has resulted in the signing of $12 billion worth of MOU's in the last 17 
months since our government took office. I urged an early resolution of 
the core issue of Kashmir, which poses a great threat to peace and 
security in our region. It has retarded progress on all issues, 
including nuclear and missile proliferation. A just and durable solution 
is the need of the hour, based on the wishes of the Kashmiri people, as 
envisaged in the Security Council resolutions. Pakistan remains 
committed to engage in a substantive dialog with India to resolve this 
dispute but not in a charade that can be used by our neighbor to mislead 
the international community. I am happy to note that the United States 
recognizes Kashmir as disputed territory and maintains that a durable 
solution can only be based on the will of the Kashmiri people.
    Pakistan asked for a reassessment of the Pressler amendment, which 
places discriminatory sanctions on Pakistan. In our view, this amendment 
has been a disincentive for a regional solution to the proliferation 
issue. Pakistan has requested the President and the administration to 
resolve the problem of our equipment worth $1.4 billion, which is held 
up. I am encouraged by my discussions with the President this morning 
and the understanding that he has shown for Pakistan's position. I 
welcome the Clinton administration's decision to work with Congress to 
revise the Pressler amendment.
    Thank you, Mr. President,
    The President. Thank you.
    Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].

Pressler Amendment

    Q. Mr. President, you both mentioned the Pressler amendment, but I'm 
not sure what you intend to do. Will you press Congress to allow 
Pakistan to receive the planes that it paid for or to get its money 
back?
    The President. Let me tell you what I intend to do. First of all, I 
intend to ask Congress to show some flexibility in the Pressler 
amendment so that we can have some economic and military cooperation. 
Secondly, I intend to consult with them about what we ought to do about 
the airplane sale.
    As you know, under the law as it now exists, we cannot release the 
equipment. It wasn't just airplanes; it was more than that. We cannot 
release the equipment. However, Pakistan made payment. The sellers of 
the equipment gave up title and received the money, and now it's in 
storage. I don't think what happened was fair to Pakistan in terms of 
the money. Now under the law, we can't give up the equipment. The law is 
clear. So I intend to consult with the Congress on that and see what we 
can do.
    I think you know that our administration cares very deeply about 
nonproliferation. We have worked very hard on it. We have lobbied the 
entire world community for an indefinite extension of the NPT. We have 
worked very hard to reduce the nuclear arsenals of ourselves and Russia 
and the other countries of the former Soviet Union. We are working for a 
comprehensive test ban treaty. We are working to limit fissile material 
production. We are working across the whole range of issues on 
nonproliferation. But I believe that the way this thing was left in 1990 
and the way I found it when I took office requires some modification, 
and I'm going to work with the Congress to see what progress we can 
make.

Kashmir

    Q. Mr. President, what was your response to Pakistan's suggestion 
that the United States would play an active role in the solution of the 
Kashmir issue?
    The President. The United States is willing to do that, but can, as 
a practical matter, only do that if both sides are willing to have us 
play a leading role. A mediator can only

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mediate if those who are being mediated want it. We are more than 
willing to do what we can to try to be helpful here.
    And of course, the Indians now are talking about elections. It will 
be interesting to see who is eligible to vote, what the conditions of 
the elections are, whether it really is a free referendum of the 
people's will there. And we have encouraged a resolution of this. When 
Prime Minister Rao was here, I talked about this extensively with him. 
We are willing to do our part, but we can only do that if both sides are 
willing to have us play a part.
    Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].

Nuclear Nonproliferation

    Q. Madam Prime Minister, why do you need nuclear weapons? And Mr. 
President, don't you weaken your case to denuclearize the world when you 
keep making exceptions?
    Prime Minister Bhutto. We don't have nuclear weapons. I'd like to 
clarify that, that we have no nuclear weapons. And this is our decision 
to demonstrate our commitment to----
    Q. But you are developing them?
    Prime Minister Bhutto. No. We have enough knowledge and capability 
to make and assemble a nuclear weapon, but we have voluntarily chosen 
not to either assemble a nuclear weapon, to detonate a nuclear weapon, 
or to export technology. When a country doesn't have the knowledge and 
says it believes in nonproliferation, I take that with a pinch of salt. 
But when a country has that knowledge--and the United States and other 
countries of the world agree that Pakistan has that knowledge--and that 
country does not use that knowledge to actually put together or assemble 
a device, I think that that country should be recognized as a 
responsible international player which has demonstrated restraint and 
not taken any action to accelerate our common goals of nonproliferation.
    The President. On your question about making an exception, I don't 
favor making an exception in our policy for anyone. But I think it's 
important to point out that the impact of the Pressler amendment is 
directed only against Pakistan. And instead, we believe that in the end 
we're going to have to work for a nuclear-free subcontinent, a nuclear-
free region, a region free of all proliferation of weapons of mass 
destruction. And the import of the amendment basically was rooted in the 
fact that Pakistan would have to bring into its country, would have to 
import the means to engage in an arms race, whereas India could develop 
such matters within its own borders.
    The real question is, what is the best way to pursue 
nonproliferation? This administration has an aggressive, consistent, 
unbroken record of leading the world in the area of nonproliferation. We 
will not shirk from that. But we ought to do it in a way that is most 
likely to achieve the desired results. And at any rate, that is somewhat 
different from the question of the Catch-22, that Pakistan has found 
itself in now for 5 years, where it paid for certain military equipment, 
we could not, under the law, give it after the previous administration 
made a determination that the Pressler amendment covered the 
transaction, but the money was received, given to the sellers, and has 
long since been spent.
    Q. But will you get a commitment from them to sign the Non-
Proliferation Treaty?
    The President. I will say again, I am convinced we're going to have 
to have a regional solution there, and we are working for that. But we 
are not making exceptions.
    Let me also make another point or two. We are not dealing with a 
country that has manifested aggression toward the United States in this 
area. We're dealing with a country that just extradited a terrorist or a 
suspected terrorist in the World Trade Center bombing; a country that 
has taken dramatic moves in improving its efforts against terrorism, 
against narcotics, that has just deported two traffickers--or extradited 
two traffickers to the United States, a country that has cooperated with 
us in peacekeeping in Somalia, in Haiti, and other places.
    We are trying to find ways to fulfill our obligations, our legal 
obligations under the Pressler amendment, and our obligation to 
ourselves and to the world to promote nonproliferation and improve our 
relationships across the whole broad range of areas where I think it is 
appropriate.
    Prime Minister Bhutto. May I just add that as far as we in Pakistan 
are concerned,

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we have welcomed all proposals made by the United States in connection 
with the regional solution to nonproliferation, and we have given our 
own proposals for a South Asia free of nuclear weapons and for a zero 
missile regime. So we have been willing to play ball on a regional 
level. Unfortunately, it's India that has not played ball. And what we 
are asking for is a leveling of the playing field so that we can attain 
our common goals of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Kashmir

    Q. Mr. President, why has the United States toned down its criticism 
of India's human rights violations in Kashmir--why has the United States 
toned down its criticism of India's human rights violations in Kashmir?
    The President. I'm sorry, sir. I'm hard of hearing. Could you----
    Q. Why has the United States toned down criticism of India's human 
rights violations in Kashmir?
    The President. There's been no change in our policy there. We are 
still trying to play a constructive role to resolve this whole matter. 
That is what we want. We stand for human rights. We'd like to see this 
matter resolved. We are willing to play a mediating role. We can only do 
it if both parties will agree. And we would like very much to see this 
resolved.
    Obviously, if the issue of Kashmir were resolved, a lot of these 
other issues we've been discussing here today would resolve themselves. 
At least, I believe that to be the case. And so, we want to do whatever 
the United States can do to help to resolve these matters because so 
much else depends on it, as we have already seen.

Self-Employed Health Care Legislation

    Q. Mr. President, a domestic question on the bill you signed today 
for health insurance for the self-employed. Other provisions in that 
bill send a so-called wrong message on issues like affirmative action, a 
wrong message on wealthy taxpayers. Why then did you sign it as opposed 
to sending it back? Were you given any kind of signal that this was the 
best you'd get out of conference?
    The President. Well, no. I signed the bill because--first of all, I 
do not agree with the exception that was made in the bill. I accept the 
fact that the funding mechanism that's in there is the one that's in 
there and I think it's an acceptable funding mechanism. I don't agree 
with the exception that was made in the bill. And it's a good argument 
for a line-item veto that applies to special tax preferences as well as 
to special spending bills. If we had the line-item veto, it would have 
been a different story.
    But I wanted this provision passed last year, and the Congress 
didn't do it. I think it's a down payment on how we ought to treat the 
self-employed in our country. Why should corporations get a 100 percent 
deductibility and self-employed people get nothing or even 25 percent or 
30 percent? I did it because tax day is April 17th, and these people are 
getting their records ready, and there are millions of them, and they 
are entitled to this deduction. It was wrong for it ever to expire in 
the first place.
    Now, I also think it was a terrible mistake for Congress to take the 
provision out of the bill which allows--which would have required 
billionaires to pay taxes on income earned as American citizens and not 
to give up their citizenship just to avoid our income tax. But that can 
be put on any bill in the future. It's hardly a justification to veto a 
bill that something unrelated to the main subject was not in the bill. 
It is paid for.
    This definitely ought to be done. It was a bad mistake by Congress. 
But that is not a justification to deprive over 3 million American 
businesspeople and farmers and all of their families the benefit of this 
more affordable health care through this tax break.

Pakistan-U.S. Relations

    Q. Mr. President, don't you think that the United State is giving 
wrong signals to it allies by dumping Pakistan who has been an ally for 
half a century in the cold after the Iran war?
    The President. First of all, sir, I have no intention of dumping 
Pakistan. Since I've been President, we have done everything we could to 
broaden our ties with Pakistan, to deepen our commercial relationships, 
our political relationships, and our cooperation.

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The present problem we have with the fact that the Pressler amendment 
was invoked for the first--passed in 1985, invoked for the first time in 
1990, and put Pakistan in a no-man's land where you didn't have the 
equipment and you'd given up the money. That is what I found when I 
became President. And I would very much like to find a resolution of it.
    Under the amendment, I cannot--I will say again--under the law, I 
cannot simply release the equipment. I cannot do that lawfully. 
Therefore, we are exploring what else we can do to try to resolve this 
in a way that is fair to Pakistan. I have already made it clear to you--
and I don't think any American President has ever said this before--I 
don't think it's right for us to keep the money and the equipment. That 
is not right. And I am going to try to find a resolution to it. I don't 
like this.
    Your country has been a good partner, and more importantly, has 
stood for democracy and opportunity and moderation. And the future of 
the entire part of the world where Pakistan is depends in some large 
measure on Pakistan's success. So we want to make progress on this. But 
the United States, a, has a law and, b, has large international 
responsibilities in the area of nonproliferation which we must fulfill.
    So I'm going to do the very best I can to work this out, but I will 
not abandon Pakistan. I'm trying to bring the United States closer to 
Pakistan, and that's why I am elated that the Prime Minister is here 
today.
    Prime Minister Bhutto. And I'd like to say that we are deeply 
encouraged by the understanding that President Clinton has shown of the 
Pakistan situation, vis-a-vis the equipment and vis-a-vis the security 
needs arising out of the Kashmir dispute, and also that Pakistan is 
willing to play ball in terms of any regional situation.
    We welcome American mediation to help resolve the Kashmir dispute. 
We are very pleased to note that the United States is willing to do so, 
if India responds positively. And when my President goes to New Delhi 
next month, this is an issue which he can take up with the Prime 
Minister of India. But let's get down to the business of settling the 
core dispute of Kashmir so that our two countries can work together with 
the rest of the world for the common purpose of peace and stability.
    The President. Thank you.

Note: The President's 92d news conference began at 1:50 p.m. in the 
Cross Hall at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime 
Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao of India.