M A I N   N E W S

SAARC committee discusses terrorism
Tribune News Service

Foreign ministers pose for a photograph before the beginning of a meeting in Kathmandu on Wednesday. — PTI photo

A series of ministerial-level meetings are being scheduled later this year which includes SAARC ministers of environment, planning/ finance, science and technology, information, communications, health, cultural affairs and commerce.

KATHMANDU DIARY
Pak plays game of oneupmanship
T. R. Ramachandran

Kathmandu, January 2
The Pakistani propaganda machinery was again on an overdrive in the run-up to the January 4-6 SAARC summit of Heads of State in this Himalayan kingdom akin to what was evidenced during the Atal Behari Vajpayee-General Pervez Musharraf summit held in Agra in July last year.

In the now familiar game of oneupmanship, Pakistani spokespersons were once again sparing no effort in sending signals that they are keen to resume the Indo-Pak dialogue and that New Delhi is pouring cold water on such efforts. They are also discreetly spreading the word that member states of SAARC should impress upon India to resume the dialogue. India is on its guard and making every effort to impress upon mediapersons from home that there is no ambiguity in India’s stand.

Pakistan has to first initiate stern action against terrorists and terrorist outfits operating from Pakistan and stop cross-border terrorism. These are necessary steps to create a conducive atmosphere for putting the Indo-Pak dialogue back on the rails.

“Will there be war?”

The two-day SAARC Council of Ministers meeting which began here this afternoon was not without its attendant curiosity. Everyone was keenly watching whether External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Abdul Sattar would go beyond the customary and inescapable handshake following the fresh bout of tension between the two neighbours, with troops being massed on the border.

“Will there be a war between India and Pakistan...” is the question on everyone’s lips with raised eyebrows. When explanations were doled out that “Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has said India does not want war but if Pakistan indulges in any misadventure, it will be rebuffed,” does not seem very convincing.

This is particularly so as Pakistan repeatedly speaks of a military option while referring to Jammu and Kashmir which India considers as the “core of its nationhood.”

Festive look

This valley ringed by snow capped hills wears a festive look and mood. There are buntings and billboards everywhere seeking peace, friendship and cooperation in South Asia. The private corporate sector in this Himalayan kingdom believes the SAARC summit can do wonders for promoting trade and commerce, a dire need for lifting it from the LDC category. Needless to say Kathmandu has received a phenomenal facelift, thanks to the SAARC summit.

It is a city guarded by carbine carrying security forces. Several intersections from the Tribhuvan airport which had been eyesores and intractable bottlenecks have been turned into green oases.

The ordinary men, including cabbies, do not tire from pointing out that “if there is a will there is a way. What has been done to beautify the Nepalese Capital in just two weeks had remained unattended for years,” they say with an element of pride.

Harrowing flight

Despite complaints made to Union Civil Aviation minister Shahnawaz Hussain about the ineptitude of Indian Airlines staff, those travelling to Kathmandu by IC-813 from Delhi had a harrowing time for the second consecutive day. The flight scheduled to take off at 11.15 am left ultimately at 3.45 pm, four-and-a-half hours late. This despite the fact that the IA flight information insisted that the Delhi-Kathmandu flight was leaving on time. Passengers were left high and dry by the airline staff.

There was absolutely no announcement why the flight had been delayed or when it would take off. Senior officials from the PMO also faced the same inexplicable problems yesterday which had worsened today. It was only when the tired passengers began losing their cool that things started moving.

The irate passengers were quickly ushered into the waiting aircraft only to be left inside twiddling their thumbs for no less than an hour and 45 minutes. Is anyone ever accountable for anything, including the shabby treatment meted out to paying passengers? It is time Mr Hussain as political numero uno of civil aviation steps and ends the free for all in IA.

Blair to visit India, Pak on peace mission

London, January 2
British Prime Minister Tony Blair embarks on a “timely” visit to India and Pakistan later this week in what is being billed as a “peace mission” to make a “personal appeal” to the two sides for restraint and to defuse tension.

Mr Blair will not be carrying a “blueprint” for a solution to the differences dogging India and Pakistan but is certain to utilise his trip to Islamabad to convey an “uncompromising” message to rein in terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, according to UK Government sources.

British dailies quoted government sources to suggest that Mr Blair did not have an “instant” solution but noted that his trip would mark the “most significant” intervention by a Western leader in the standoff between India and Pakistan following the terrorist attack on Parliament House.

Mr Blair, who had a telephonic talk with US President George W.Bush last Saturday on the tense Indo-Pak relations, will be in India on a four-day visit from January 4 before leaving for Islamabad on January 7. PTI