Tuesday, Dec 02, 2003
Tuesday, Dec 02, 2003 |
| International | ||||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | International
-
India & World
By B. Muralidhar Reddy
The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Masood Khan, told reporters at the weekly news briefing that the objective behind the unilateral gestures by Islamabad was to "jump start" the dialogue process. At the same time there was neither "any assurance nor guarantee" from India on coming to the negotiating table. When journalists wanted to know why Pakistan reversed its stand on ceasefire and overflights, he asked: "What is the principled stand of Pakistan that has been reversed?" His contention was that Islamabad had to change the "prism" in view of India's "rigid stand." Asked whether Pakistan had been given any assurance that India would respond in kind to what he called "gestures of goodwill," Mr. Khan said no assurance had been given. However, he said Islamabad hoped New Delhi would reciprocate the gesture and come to the negotiating table. He said his country wanted the confidence-building measures to lead to a composite dialogue. However, while responding to a question whether the ceasefire was against the interests of "freedom fighters", he said Pakistan would never compromise on its principled stand on the Kashmir issue. "Yes, the recent peace initiatives are hopes and not guarantees," he said. When asked why Parliament was not taken into confidence, he said that it was not necessary that the President should consult every step with Parliament. "The President took the decision on behalf of the federation of Pakistan." Mr. Khan said that Pakistan had not set any duration for the ceasefire being observed, as it wanted it to be indefinite. He denied reports that Pakistan agreed to the ceasefire after a lot of "persuasion" and said he was not aware of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's statement to that effect. He did not agree with the suggestion of a journalist that the move to lift the ban on overflights unilaterally was a concession but said it was "gesture of goodwill". "Had President General Musharraf not taken this decision, the technical-level talks between air officials of the two countries held in New Delhi on Monday would have collapsed." Mr. Khan rejected the suggestion that the United States had been putting pressure, as the ban was creating a problem for Washington to directly engage India in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. "I can tell you there was no pressure whatsoever from any quarter and we don't yield to pressures," he said. On SAARC, Mr. Khan said that there were indications that the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, would attend the coming summit to be held in Islamabad in January. About the "bugging" of the Pakistan High Commission in London by British MI 5, the spokesman said that no progress had been made, as the British Government was still tight-lipped about it. He said that if the British Government did not respond to Pakistan's concerns it would have to "face the consequences". He refuted the statement by the Afghanistan President, Hamid Karzai, that the reclusive leader of the former Taliban regime, Mullah Muhammad Omar, was recently sighted in Quetta. The Afghan Government should desist from issuing such statements and if they had any evidence regarding the presence of Al-Qaeda and Taliban elements they should provide it to Pakistan.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
