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Friday, Jun 17, 2005

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He is not welcome, says Congress

Special Correspondent

His role in setting up a training camp for Kashmiri terrorists

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday reacted sharply to reports that Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid had set up a training camp for Kashmiri terrorists and suggested that he should not be allowed to visit India.

"If there is any Minister or authority in Pakistan who is involved [in] or associated with it [training of terrorists], surely such a person will not be welcome in this country. There is no question of any compromise or any dilution of our position," party spokesperson Anand Sharma told reporters here.

Mr. Sharma was responding to questions on reports quoting Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik that Mr. Rashid had set up a training camp for Kashmiri terrorists in Pakistan-controlled territory and whether the Pakistani Minister would be allowed to travel to Srinagar. He said the Government has repeatedly stated that terrorist infrastructure across the border had not been dismantled and that New Delhi has emphasised that for the peace talks to succeed, cross border terrorism should end.

To another question on the letter of the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the visit of the Hurriyat leaders to Pakistan, Mr. Sharma said the Government could not be faulted.

The agreement between India and Pakistan was that those who take the bus would do so on travel documents issued by designated authorities and in the case of Hurriyat leaders the Regional Passport Officer, Srinagar, had issued them. "Any violation in respect of crossing over from PoK into Pakistan lies at the doorstep of Islamabad and India could not be faulted."

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