Indian envoy seeks to meet Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JAN. 8. A request today by the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Mr. Vijay Nambiar, for a meeting with the Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has caught the imagination of the media here.

Mr. Nambiar, in fact, had sought the appointment over five weeks ago. It was not intended to be any thing more than a courtesy call as the Indian High Commissioner had not met Gen. Musharraf even once after he taking charge of the mission in the second week of August last year.

Mr. Nambiar made known his desire when he was summoned to the Foreign Office and handed over Pakistan's official statement on Kashmir by the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Inamul Haq.

The following day a section of the media reported the request along with a rider that Mr. Nambiar was rushing to New Delhi for consultations.

In its statement, Pakistan had announced the decision to observe ``maximum restraint'' on the Line of Control and invited the All- Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders to visit the country.

Immediately after the official statement was issued, Mr. Nambiar went to Delhi for ``consultations'' on New Delhi's Kashmir initiative. He stayed on for over 11 days as his visit coincided with a marriage in the family.

On his return here on December 14, there was speculation in the media that he was scheduled to meet Gen. Musharraf and ``convey an important message''. It was suggested that Mr. Nambiar was to meet Gen. Musharraf and convey India's response to Islamabad's December 2 statement.

For some reasons the meeting never materialised. In response to a question from a reporter of the Urdu daily, Jang, yesterday, Mr. Nambiar said he was waiting for the appointment.

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Section  : International
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