New Delhi, October 19
External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said today that there was “nothing abnormal,” in the exchange of fire along the Line of Control (LoC), and termed the Pakistan’s claim of enhanced firing as “entirely incorrect.”
“Limited firing is taking place. There is nothing abnormal nor a departure from what has been taking place,” Mr Jaswant Singh said after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), meeting chaired by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee at his residence late tonight.
Mr Jaswant Singh said, “after the relatively heavy firing on October 15, there has been no escalation in firing incidents. In fact, since then, trans LoC firing has been restricted to low level exchanges of fire, which are a routine nature.”
The CCS decided to lend assistance as the government would offer a credit of whopping Rs 500 crore for the reconstruction of post-conflict Afghanistan. The CCS also decided to offer the USA one million dollar worth of ciprofloxacin, an antidote to anthrax, as the country lacks the medicine.
The CCS reviewed the current ground situation in Afghanistan and was briefed about reports from various agencies including the military. The committee also decided that since there were logistic difficulties in transporting one million tonnes of wheat that India was sending to Afghan refugees in Pakistan and those in need in Afghanistan, the same will be offered to the UN agencies to be transferred.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has conveyed that it did not have storage facilities for the wheat.
India will also be giving blankets, tents, quilts and medicines to the UN agencies for the people of Afghanistan, he told reporters.
He further said the India Technical and Economic Cooperation support the aid programme to Afghanistan, which had been suspended in 1979. It would be revived after a broad-based government is established in the country, he added.
The Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul, would be made fully operational once again and the successful Jaipur Foot Programme for those who have lost limbs due to anti-personal mines would be revived in totality.
On the offer to the USA for the anthrax antidote, he said it was the Prime Minister’s decision that India should send the medicines.
The External Affairs Minister said he briefed the CCS about his discussions on Afghanistan with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Iiya Klebanov and First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov, besides Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohsenzade.
He also spoke on telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and France.
