M A I N   N E W S

India rules out summit with Pak

JAKARTA, Jan 12 (Reuters) — The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, said today no date had been set for a visit to New Delhi by Pakistan’s military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Asked about media reports suggesting the Pakistan leader was ready to visit India for a dialogue to try to end a long-running territorial dispute over Kashmir, Mr Vajpayee said: “I’ve seen the report, but no date has been fixed as yet.” Asked if that meant Mr Musharraf would go, Mr Vajpayee, on a visit to Indonesia, said: “Even that is not final.”

“That is a question that should be directed to him. How do I know when he will come?” he added.

But the Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr Ajit Panja, ruled out any imminent visit.

“There is no plan (for Mr Musharraf’s visit). Our policy remains constant and until conditions are there for peaceful talks, until terrorism stops, it is not possible to talk for peace,” Mr Panja, who was accompanying Mr Vajpayee, said.

BALI (PTI, UNI): Mr Vajpayee arrived in this picturesque island of Indonesia, having a pre-dominant Hindu influence, on Friday afternoon.

He was received by Bali Governor Dewa Made Bartha and presented flowers by Balinese children dressed in their traditional attire.

Meanwhile, India on Friday ruled out the possibility of a summit-level meeting with Pakistan and said no such proposal was under consideration at the moment.

“No invitation has been sent to General Musharraf to come to Delhi, Prime Minsiter’s Principal Secretary and National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra told a news conference here.

He regretted General Musharraf’s statement that he had no comment to make on the attack at the Red Fort and the threat to attack the Prime Minister’s office and other important venues.

How could the General refuse comment on this issue when the threats were coming from Pakistan, he said.

Mr Mishra said India was in the process of reviewing the situation along the Line of Control and take an appropriate decision to proceed further.

He said the government would take a decision on giving permission to a five-member Hurriyat delegation to visit Pakistan only after the return of the Prime Minister to New Delhi.

APHC announcement limits govt options
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Jan 12 — “Galwanas kar gur hawala” (hand over the horse to the horse thief)” seems to be the strategy the executive committee of the APHC has adopted while selecting members for the proposed visit to Pakistan.

The executive had authorised the APHC chairman to select the team to Pakistan for holding talks with the government and leaders of different militant outfits for hammering out a solution to the Kashmir issue. The Chairman, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, had announced that he would select the team only after the Government of India issued passports to all seven members of the executive committee.

He had also stated that the APHC would not allow the government to select the team by issuing passports on a pick and choose basis. He spent four days in Delhi and his colleague Abdul Ghani Lone, too, spent time in the Capital to persuade mediators to force the government to issue passports first. When the APHC leaders realised that the Home Ministry was adopting delaying tactics, Prof Bhat announced the five-member team.

Prof Bhat and others feared that the government may deny a passport to Syed Ali Shah Geelani who represents Jamait-e-Islami in the APHC. As such he did not want the APHC to split on the issue. Hence, he decided to select the team in advance instead of his earlier plan of announcing the team only after the government issued passports to all seven members of the executive committee.

Prof Bhat has selected Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Sheikh Aziz Ahmed of the People’s League, Mr Abdul Ghani Lone of the People’s Conference, Molvi Umar Farooq of the Awami Action Committee and Molvi Abbas Ansari, a prominent Shia leader. He kept himself and his close friend Mohammad Yaseen Malik, JKLF chief, out of the team.

Molvi Umar Farooq and Abdul Ghani Lone are in possession of travel documents. The passport of Mr Geelani and Molvi Ansari have been impounded. This way the government has to issue passports in favour of three members.

Instead of waiting for the government to issue passports on a pick and choose basis, Prof Bhat has limited the government’s options.

Asked if the APHC would cancel its proposed visit to Pakistan if all five members were not issued passports, Prof Bhat said, “The executive committee will then meet again and finalise its future strategy.”

In reply to another question, he said: “It is for Mr Lone to visit Pakistan and I have included him in the team.” Mr Lone had earlier told TNS that he was not interested in visiting Pakistan.

Prof Bhat said there should be no problem for the government in issuing a passport to Syed Ali Shah Geelani. “If I were the Prime Minister, I would send Mr Geelani alone to Pakistan as the APHC representative.”

Informed sources, meanwhile, said both Delhi and Islamabad had reservations in including Syed Ali Shah Geelani in the team for different reasons. Mr Geelani is a “hawk” in the eyes of the government whose one-point programme is to secure the merger of Kashmir with Pakistan.

The military regime in Pakistan is not willing to have Mr Geelani in the APHC team, notwithstanding Islamabad’s pronounced support for his visit to Pakistan. Sources said in view of the growing confrontation between Gen Pervez Musharraf and the right-wing Jamait-e-Islami, the military ruler would not like to see Mr Geelani add “fuel to the fire” during his proposed visit to Pakistan by fulminating against the Musharraf regime.

Jamait-e-Islami leaders in Pakistan have decided to organise public rallies where Mr Geelani will be the chief guest.

When Mr Lone was contacted on the phone to find out whether he continued to stick to his earlier stand, he said: “Now that I am in the team, I may have to revise my stand.” Asked if the APHC team’s visit would be cancelled in case all five members were not issued passports, he said “the final decision has to be taken by the executive committee.”

Knowledgeable circles are of the opinion that by selecting the APHC team ahead of issuance of valid travel documents, Prof Bhat has left an escape route open. There is no little doubt that the peace process initiated by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had placed the APHC in an embarrassing situation. The APHC has become a divided house with one group favouring Kashmir’s incorporation with Pakistan and the other supporting “azadi” for the disputed land. Most of the APHC leaders are not sure of their success in case they visit Pakistan and meet militant leaders who support to the peace process is necessary.

The Muttahida Jehad Council comprising 15 rebel groups has already rejected the peace process and vowed to carry out an armed struggle for securing for the people of Kashmir the right to self-determination. As such, the task before the APHC is tough. It has no alternative now but to join the peace process.

And it may find an escape route if Delhi refuses to issue travel documents in favour of all five members selected by the APHC Chairman. At the same time, it cannot ignore the aspirations of the majority of people in the Kashmir valley who yearn for peace.

And these very people may ultimately hold the Government of India responsible if the APHC team is not allowed to visit Pakistan. Many in Kashmir blame the Home Ministry for having bungled on the passport issue. Some APHC leaders had been assured a month ago that passports would be issued to those selected by the executive committee which encouraged Mr Malik to announce that the APHC team would leave for Pakistan on January 15.