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PM will visit Pak for SAARC, nothing else: Sinha

By Hamid Mir in New Delhi
November 21, 2003 17:14 IST

External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Friday confirmed that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will participate in the SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad in January 2004, but made it clear that the prime minister will not have any one-to-one meetings with Pakistani leaders.

In an interview to Geo TV's 'Capital Talk' programme, Sinha said the prime minister is going to Pakistan just for the summit and nothing else.

Expressing his disappointment with Pakistan's response to India's 12 confidence building measures announced in October this year, Sinha said India is willing to discuss Kashmir, "but the issue is not Kashmir, but the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir."  

He also said that though Pakistan does not look serious about addressing the issue of cross-border terrorism, India will solve the problem on its own very soon.

Replying to a question, he said India is not creating any problems for Pakistan in the Commonwealth, but because there is no democracy in Pakistan, the organisation is not restoring its membership.

Sinha condemned the recent arrest and continued detention of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader, Javaid Hashmi.

Hashmi, who was arrested on October 29 for 'inciting the army to rebel,' is being tried for treason.

In answer to another question, Sinha denied India is in any way trying to weaken Pakistan's position in Afghanistan. He also denied the allegation that India has set up training camp for anti-Pak fighters in Jalalabad or Kandahar.

On the gas pipeline project from Iran through Pakistan, the external affairs minister said let Pakistan confer the Most Favoured Nation status on India first, then we will think about the pipeline.

 

Hamid Mir in New Delhi

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