Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Urgent Questions Questions to Members 
Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Urgent Questions Questions to Members 
[Volume:620;Page:16013] 
11.  
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does she stand by her reported statements in the  
Hindustan Times 
 that “There has been many a time during my tenure that there has been a danger of nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan but the resolution of the nuclear issue lies in the resolution of the Kashmir issue I think Kashmir is the flashpoint” and that Kashmir is “a conflict driving point and that has really put pressures on India and Pakistan to go nuclear”; if not what parts are not correct? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Those statements are distortions of my comments. Virtually every quote attributed to me in that article is a misquote and the journalist made another four inaccurate statements in his radio interview this morning. I have released the transcript of my actual comments. 
Rodney Hide 
: Why did she think it appropriate to comment on India’s internal politics ahead of her bridge-mending visit and in light of the reaction is she sorry that she ever said: “Kashmir is the flashpoint” in respect of India and Pakistan’s proliferation of nuclear weapons? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: It is perfectly obvious to the whole world that Kashmir is a flashpoint for tensions between the two countries. Most countries do not regard it as simply an internal affair. 
Keith Locke 
: Would the Prime Minister agree that Kashmir is a potential nuclear flashpoint given that during the 2001-02 crisis in Kashmir several Pakistani officials threatened the use of nuclear weapons to deter a conventional invasion from India and given that on 18 June 2002 the Pakistan President himself said that Pakistan’s possession of nuclear weapons did deter an invasion and that nuclear deterrence had worked? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: The kinds of statements that the member is quoting only go to prove that there has been considerable tension around these issues between the two countries. New Zealand has not taken one side or another and has constantly urged them to negotiate. 
Dail Jones 
: Will the Prime Minister ensure during this bridge-building visit to South Asia that she has regard to the direction of the joint statement issued in New York after Dr Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister of India and General PervezMusharraf the Pakistan President had met which stated that the two leaders had addressed the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and had agreed that possible options for a peaceful negotiated settlement of the issue should be explored in a sincere spirit and purposeful manner and also other expressions in Pakistan and India that this type of issue should really be kept out of the media? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: Yes I agree with the member that there have been very encouraging developments between the Governments of the two countries and I am sure that all countries would want to support those developments. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Has the Prime Minister received any advice from the New Zealand High Commission in India about the impact of her statements in the light of the suggestion made by the journalist this morning that her statements would have some negative impact on her visit; if so can she reassure the House that in fact her visit is likely to proceed in an air of calm and reason? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: Yes. The High Commissioner for New Zealand in India has been in touch with the Indian Foreign Ministry. It is understanding of the situation. It has the transcript and it has my statement and I think it can see where the problem arose. 
Rodney Hide 
: Does she understand the potential for concern about her statement in light of her declaring in a press release on 12 May 1998 that India’s objections to the non-proliferation treaty were “at the least insincere and at the most extremely devious and misleading”; and does she stand by that statement she made back then? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: Not only I myself but New Zealand Governments down through the ages have urged all countries to sign up to nuclear disarmament treaties and there is nothing I will resile from about that. 
Rodney Hide 
: In light of her trip to India to build bridges would she think it wise for a Prime Minister who was coming to New Zealand to observe say that the Foreshore and Seabed Bill was a flashpoint for race relations in New Zealand; and does she not think it wise not to comment on sensitive internal matters no matter how certain she is about her particular views? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: The member may believe that Kashmir is an internal issue; most countries see it as a matter that has to be resolved between two countries. 
Rodney Hide 
: I seek leave to table a press statement given by the Rt Hon Helen Clark declaring India to be insincere and potentially devious and misleading dated 12 May 1998. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is.