Obama mulling appointing Bill Clinton as special envoy on Kashmir

Islamabad, Nov 6 : New US President-elect Barack Obama has hinted at appointing his partyman and former president Bill Clinton as a special envoy on Jammu and Kashmir, saying he had an experience of dealing with the problems in the Indian subcontinent.

Obama reportedly said this in an interview with Time magazine.

Clinton had played a role in ending the Kargil crisis in Kashmir in 1999.

While recognising that Kashmir was 'obviously a potential tar pit' for American diplomacy, Obama remained optimistic about changing the regional dynamic.

"Working with Pakistan and India to try to resolve the Kashmir crisis in a serious way was one of the most 'critical tasks' for my administration," the Daily Times quoted Obama as saying in the interview.

Calling Kashmir an 'interesting situation', Obama said he was ready to explore the option for the US "to devote serious diplomatic resources to get a special envoy in there, to figure out a plausible approach".

Earlier, during his last phase of poll campaign last week, Obama had said that if he won the election he would like to play a role in mediating between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue. His statement had evoked a strong response from the Kashmiris saying it was an unwanted interference in the Kashmir issue.

ANI