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Japan lifts sanctions on India, Pak

Tokyo, October 26
Japan today lifted sanctions on India and Pakistan, imposed in 1998 following their nuclear tests, in the light of the cooperation extended by New Delhi and Islamabad to the global fight against terrorism.

The decision to lift the sanctions on India and Pakistan came after a joint meeting of the Committee on Foreign Aid and Diplomacy of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) approved the plan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said in a statement.

“Japan is lifting the sanctions on India in the hope of easing tension in the region and to seek New Delhi’s political involvement in Afghanistan after the ruling Taliban falls from power,” Kyodo news agency quoting Mr Fukuda said.

The decision will lift a three-year-long freeze on grant and loan aid to India and Pakistan and end the hard stance Japan vowed to take on multinational development bank loans to the two countries.

The announcement comes days before the visit of former premier Yoshiro Mori to Delhi for talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is likely to visit Japan soon. Mori will be in India as a special envoy of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

However, sanctions might be reimposed if the “situation concerning nuclear non-proliferation deteriorates,” the statement said while urging the two countries to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

As part of the sanctions, Japan also said it would “cautiously examine” loan programmes to the two countries by multinational development banks.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had called for the lifting of the sanctions in a telephone conversation with Koizumi last week, saying that Pakistan needs economic aid to offset the negative economic impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the USA.

Japan has, however, refused to cancel some $ 5 billion in debts to Pakistan, despite the request.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abesai at a news conference said Japan will consider the possibility while looking into Pakistan’s opinions.

Last month, Japan decided to provide $ 40 million to Pakistan to help “fight terrorism” but had maintained the sanctions.

NEW DELHI: India on Friday said it had taken note of the Japanese Government’s announcement that it was lifting sanctions imposed against it in 1998.

“We have noted the developments. India always regarded these measures as an ineffective tool. They were imposed unilaterally by the Japanese Government which has now decided to remove them,” official sources said here.

Tokyo’s decision comes ahead of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to Japan expected to take place soon. PTI