Jaswant rules out early talks
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 17 —The External Affairs Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh today ruled an early resumption of bilateral talks with Pakistan saying it was still "too early" to consider such an option specially after that country came under military law early last week.

Mr Jaswant Singh was talking to the media after interacting with 30 visiting school children from Pakistan. The minister, when asked specifically whether India was ready to hold talks with the new regime in Pakistan said, "it is too early to refer to that". He added, "it is premature to comment one way or the other".

The 30 visiting Pakistani school children will be returning home tomorrow after a week-long stay in India. It included their participating in a sports meet also.

The minister refused to comment on any hypothetical situation but said India was keeping a close watch on the developments in Pakistan. "Until the situation becomes clear, it will be improper for me to answer hypothetically," he said.

"It is a matter of concern to us," Mr Jaswant Singh said on developments in Pakistan. "Whatever is happening in Pakistan is not clear. It will not be proper to say what will happen in the coming days," he said.

Replying to questions on the future course of Indo-Pak relations, the minister was cautious and said one must also reflect on the fact that this is the fourth time India was witnessing such developments in its neighbourhood. "The best commentary on the events there are the events themselves," he observed.

The minister also brushed aside concerns voiced by some western nations about the possibility of a nuclear flare-up in the subcontinent. Such fears were "totally unfounded", he said.

Mr Jaswant Singh was optimistic that developments in Pakistan would not have a bearing on transport linkages and the people-to-people contacts between the two countries. As a pointer in this direction, he said the two-way Delhi-Lahore bus service was continuing to operate despite the developments in Pakistan.

He said relations between India and Pakistan were so intermixed with so many strands that it would be simplistic to reduce it to a single strand or idea.

On cross-border terrorism sponsored by Pakistan, Mr Singh asserted that "there cannot be and will be no compromise on this issue." He was responding to a question on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s stress that his government would be guided by the principle of `zero-tolerance’ in tackling terrorism.

The minister said as part of efforts to promote people-to-people contacts, visa restrictions had been eased following a decision to this effect taken by the Prime Ministers of the two countries at the historic Lahore summit.

The minister denied reports which had stated that Indian forces were on "high alert" following the military take-over in Pakistan. High alert implied a state of tension and movement of additional troops, he contended adding "our forces are vigilant".

In response to a question, he said the visit of the President of the USA, Mr Bill Clinton, to India was, "very much on the cards". It was up to the U S administration to work out something according to their convenience.

Maintaining that Indo-US relations were improving, he said this was also reflected in the telephonic conversation Clinton had with Vajpayee soon after the Indian leader assumed charge as Prime Minister for the third time.

"I do hope and trust that the direction in which Indo-US relations are proceeding will continue to gather momentum," he said adding both sides looked forward to further deepening of contacts and widening of the dialogue process between the two nations.

The minister said he looked forward to the visit of U S Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, a close confidante of Clinton, to Delhi on October 26.

On the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) issue, Mr Singh said India’s position, despite what happened in the Senate, "remains unchanged". The Republican-dominated U S Senate had earlier this week rejected ratification of the treaty.

The minister recalled that India had announced a moratorium on extorium remains without any change nuclear testing soon after the Pokhran explosions in May last year. That moratorium remains without any change whatsoever, there will be no further testing".

The new Vajpayee Government, he said, would continue to strive for the "widest possible consensus" on the question of signing the CTBT.

India, he stressed, stood by its unwavering commitment to the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction and to universal nuclear disarmament.

New Delhi has maintained that the debate in the U S Senate on CTBT and its subsequent rejection clearly indicated that the treaty was not a simple uncomplicated issue.

Earlier, addressing the Pakistani students, the minister said the future of India and Pakistan belonged to the younger generation and they should ensure that the two countries live in peace and amity. He urged the students to make concerted efforts to face the challenges of poverty alleviation and unemployment.

Build-up in PoK on Kashmir

ISLAMABAD, Oct 17 (PTI) — Prime Minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) Sultan Mahmood Choudhury for the first time today said efforts are beign made to convert PoK into a "base camp" for launching a "freedom movement" in the Kashmir valley.

"Strenuous efforts are being made to promote the ideological integrity of Kashmir in PoK making it (PoK) the "base camp" for an independence movement in real sense," he told reporters.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Students Liberation Front (JKSLF), the students wing of JKLF of Amanullah Khan, declared that it would observe a protest on October 24 against the "puppet government" of Mr Choudhury for preventing it from undertaking its programme of crossing the Line of Control (LoC) on October 4.

Meanwhile, in an apparent toughening of stance on the Kashmir issue, Pakistan's new military regime has criticised India for detaining Hurriyat leaders and stepped up rhetoric on Kashmir.

Huge banners reading "India quit Kashmir" sprung up overnight in front of Parliament here.

Almost simultaneously Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed, now foreign affairs adviser to Gen Musharraf, issued a statement slamming India for "detention" of Hurriyat leaders.

Expressing "solidarity" with the leaders, the foreign office statement called upon the international community to urge India to immediately release them.

These developments come a day after General Musharraf conveyed to US Ambassador to Pakistan William B. Milam, his willingness to hold talks with India on all outstanding issues.

Mr Shamshad Ahmed, who was present during the meetings of General Musharraf with envoys of different countries in the past couple of days, had also expressed Pakistan's commitment to all international obligations during a meeting with Indian High Commissioner G. Parthasarthy here on Thursday.

Mr Ahmed had told the Indian envoy that despite the sudden change of set-up in Pakistan, Islamabad "believes in resolving all issues, including Kashmir, with India through dialogue".