Tribune News Service and PTIKathmandu, January 5
Even as he categorised as “totally unacceptable” Pakistan’s ploy of using terrorism as a “pre-dialogue tactic for bilateral talks,” External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh took exception to the USA reportedly sending a special envoy to India and Pakistan to lessen the tension between the two countries.
“We have not received any intimation in this regard,” Mr Jaswant Singh told mediapersons here this afternoon after the inauguration of the SAARC summit.
He found Washington’s approach rather perplexing and said the American missions in New Delhi and Islamabad were competent or may be they were found wanting and that is why the USA was considering such a step.
Taking time off to answer a volley of questions from Indian and Pakistani scribes, Mr Jaswant Singh dismissed suggestions that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had snubbed Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf by first asking him to take concrete action against terrorists in keeping with Islamabad’s desire for friendship with India. “You cannot hold the gun at someone’s temple and simultaneously suggest having talks at any level and at any place,” Mr Jaswant Singh said emphatically “This is totally unacceptable and must be clearly understood.”
Stressing that he was not in Kathmandu to respond to all the speculation floating around, he said all leaders of SAARC met in a congenial atmosphere.
Responding to General Musharraf’s gesture, the Prime Minister requested that this be accompanied by “concrete acts of friendship” of bringing to justice the terrorists operating from Pakistan soil.
Responding to a question about the latest list of 20 Indian terrorists and criminals taking shelter in Pakistan, Mr Jaswant Singh said he failed to understand why the neighbour was not handing them over to India.
He firmly believed that raking up contentious or other bilateral issues in the SAARC grouping would go contrary to the Charter.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke to External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh today which showed no signs of a thaw in Indo-Pak relations.
The telephonic talk was basically for continuing discussions on the current situation, official sources said tonight. The minister briefed him on what the Prime Minister had said at the inaugural ceremony in response to General Musharraf’s statement.
The call comes in the context of Washington’s repeated statements calling upon India and Pakistan to have a dialogue and reduce tensions between them.
