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Pak may face Commonwealth expulsion: PM

George Varghese on board the PM's aircraft

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today said Pakistan will be expelled from the Commonwealth if the military administration ''does not restore democracy at the earliest.''

The Commonwealth has now suspended Pakistan from the Commonwealth Council, but this would be followed by suspension and expulsion from the 54-member Commonwealth itself if the military regime failed to restore democracy at the earliest, Vajpayee told mediapersons on board his aircraft en route India, after attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Durban.

Vajpayee said he apprehended that the deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharief would meet with the same fate as former prime minister Z A Bhutto and, therefore, wanted the international community to urgently intervene to save his life. The Commonwealth summit has demanded the immediate release of Sharief and his friends.

He said India was with the Commonwealth leaders who wanted the immediate release of Sharief. He declined to answer more questions on Sharief saying he did not want to create more problems for him.

India wanted Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism and anti-India propaganda, he said.

Replying to a question on the Pakistan military junta's move to hold a referendum, he said the military regime has no credibility.

Asked whether the United States has, of late, started softening its stand towards the military ruler in Pakistan, Vajpayee said ''they may have some other considerations in mind. Consideration of human rights is not uppermost in their mind.''

Vajpayee said that even in the CHOGM, some developed countries wanted to take a soft stand on the military regime in Pakistan but countries from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean asserted that strong action should be taken for overthrowing a democratically elected government.

In fact, many of these nations were victims of military rule and suspension of democracy in the past, he said.

A majority of the members of the Commonwealth were against imposing a timeframe for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. India never wanted restoration of democracy to become an Indo-Pak issue, he said.

He expressed happiness that there was no compromise on the Pakistan issue and there was an unanimous decision on the action to be taken. The Commonwealth view has become more emphatic with India's intervention, he said.

The proposals before the summit were for suspension from the council, suspension from the Commonwealth and expulsion from the Commonwealth, but the summit took a very sensible stand, he said.

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group would constantly monitor the developments in Pakistan, including the action being taken against Sharief, he said. The present suspension is for six months.

On terrorism, Vajpayee said the Commonwealth has taken a strong stand on this question. He welcomed the leaders' strong and unambiguous stand on the issue and said it was essential to translate this into specific action aimed at combating the spread of terrorist violence. The Commonwealth countries must work together in the international fora to defeat the forces that fuelled terrorism, he added.

India said there have been more than 40,000 victims of cross-border terrorist attacks since 1988, and most of them were Muslims, Vajpayee said.

The prime minister recalled that the Commonwealth leaders had called for the adoption of the international convention on the suppression of acts of terrorist financing in the current session of the United Nations General Assembly. They have also called for legislations to prevent financing of terrorists and terrorist organisations as terrorism, illegal trafficking in drugs, arms, persons and money laundering were all linked.

India wanted the UN to take stringent steps against state-sponsored terrorism, he said.

On trade and the World Trade Organisation, the member countries have reached a consensus, Vajpayee said. The decisions of the Uruguay round of discussions should be implemented first. Future discussions should be issue-specific, he said.

Vajpayee made it clear that if the developing countries did not remain united it would be difficult to protect their interests.

UNI

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