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Pak was isolated at SAARC summit: PM

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee says Pakistan rather than India suffered isolation at the Colombo South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation summit.

Replying to clarifications sought by members in the Rajya Sabha on Monday on his statement regarding the summit, Vajpayee said Pakistan had made several efforts to raise the contentious bilateral issues, but failed.

The prime minister emphasised that at other international fora, such as the P-5 and G-8, there was now better understanding that issues between Pakistan and India were bilateral in nature with no place for third party intervention.

''Pakistan will have to accept this as there is no alternative. We are firm that issues must be settled bilaterally and there should be no room for suspicion,'' the prime minister said.

The statement was made even as the government came under sharp attack in the Lok Sabha today from the Congress for what it called total failure on the foreign policy front and making India a nuclear weapons state when the country was plagued by illiteracy, poverty and malnutrition.

Raising a discussion on the recent developments affecting India's foreign policy, former Lok Sabha speaker Purno A Sangma launched a frontal attack on the government for mishandling foreign policy issues as it was not clear whether the Prime Minister's Office, South Block or Planning Commission's Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh was in charge of foreign affairs.

The House simultaneously took up a discussion on Vajpayee's statement on the Colombo summit.

Sangma said in today's world economic power and not military might was the driving force behind international relations and ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government had assumed office the country had suffered on the economic front.

The former speaker pointed out that, since the assumption of office by the Vajpayee government the Sensex had dipped by 600 points, the value of rupee had depreciated, inflation was rising, balance of payments position was deteriorating, fiscal deficit was mounting, exports were dwindling, India's credit rating had been downgraded and trade deficit was rising.

Former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav mounted a frontal attack on the foreign policy of the BJP-led government and observed that India was losing friends at a faster pace since the Vajpayee government came to power.

He said the prime minister's statement on the progress of talks with his counterpart in Pakistan and achievements of his visit to SAARC summit had turned out be a damp squib.

Yadav accused Vajpayee of misleading the House and described his statement as ''irresponsible.''

Stating that the present government has deviated from the country's foreign policy, Yadav warned if the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was signed overlooking India's interests, he would not bother for the House decorum to fight that tooth and nail.

He demanded that the government should not agree to third party intervention to settle Indo-Pak issues and said the Simla agreement should be the base line.

Vajpayee said he had conveyed to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief India's commitment to developing peaceful and friendly ties with that country. He added that he had also underscored India's interest in a secure, stable and prosperous Pakistan.

The prime minister said he urged Sharief that India and Pakistan should work together to develop trust and confidence and avail of the many opportunites for mutually beneficial co-operation in the economic, social and other fields to improve the quality of the lives of the people of the two countries.

Vajpayee said he had underlined the need for India and Pakistan to work together to resolve the mutual differences in a rational and realistic manner.

He said foreign secretary level contacts at Colombo were part of this endeavour and that India would continue the pursuit through diplomatic channel for sustaining dialogue with Pakistan.

Vajpayee said the focus of his talks with the Pakistan premier at Colombo was on official level dialogue between the two countries.

The prime minister also referred to the Indian delegation sent to the ASEAN post-ministerial conference at Manila. He said the Indian participation at Manila was important as it was opportunity to explain New Delhi's stand on the nuclear issues.

He said the Indian delegation had reiterated at the ASEAN regional forum meetings India's respect to the concept of nuclear weapon free zone in south Asia.

Vajpayee said the Indian presence at the Manila helped convince the ASEAN of the bonding of co-operation and understanding with New Delhi which is a dialogue partner. This progress had to be consolidated through project implementation, trade, tourism, investments and people to people contacts, he said.

On the SAARC summit, the prime minister said the participant countries had reiterated their commitment to a free trade area in the region. A group of experts would be set up to negotiate a comprehensive legal framework for liberalisation of trade leading to the setting up of the free trade area, he added.

Vajpayee said India announced lifting of all quantitive restrictions preferentially on imports from SAARC countries effective from August 1.

UNI

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