Islamabad, March 7
The SAARC Information Ministers Conference got off to a controversial start here with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf raking up Indo-Pak bilateral issues but Indian Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj refused to fall for the bait.At the end of his speech at the inaugural ceremony, Mr Musharraf offered the mike to Ms Swaraj, seated on the dais, to respond to his offer of de-escalation and lifting of the airspace ban by Pakistan provided India reciprocated.
“I am prepared to remove the ban on flights right here if the Indian minister has the authority to do the same,” Mr Musharraf said.
However, Ms Swaraj refused it, saying that she was only Information Minister and had no authority to respond to the issue raised by Mr Musharraf.
Later, speaking to Indian reporters at the High Commission, she was critical of Mr Musharraf’s efforts to using the SAARC meeting to highlight the current Indo-Pak military and political tension.
An agitated Swaraj said India saw no reason to take such measures as there was no change in the ground situation.
Maintaining that India had taken measures like banning of flights for a specific purpose, she said, “We would like to judge the Musharraf government by its actions. The ball is not in India’s court. It is for General Musharraf to take action. The ball is in his court,” she said.
The SAARC charter bars member-states from raking up bilateral issues.
Mr Musharraf, taking advantage of Bangladesh Information Minister Abdul Mayeen Khan’s appeal to Ms Swaraj to lift the ban on flights as he had to take a circuitous route to reach here to attend the conference, said he was ready to lift the restrictions immediately, if India reciprocated.
Turning to Ms Swaraj, he said if the Indian Minister was ready, Pakistan would lift the restrictions forthwith.
Later, obliging requests from Indian correspondents to answer their questions at the end of the speech, Mr Musharraf said he was ready to pull the troops tomorrow morning, if India too did the same.
He also reiterated his appeal made at the SAARC summit in Kathmandu, that the forum should effectively take up the task of resolving bilateral issues.
Ms Swaraj told Indian journalists that “in a democratic country, decisions are taken collectively. General Musharraf is in a different position. It is his country. He can behave the way he wants.”
Ms Swaraj said neither the SAARC nor an innocuous SAARC Information Ministers conference with a pre-set agenda was the right forum to raise such contentious issues.
PTI
