Accord with Malaysia on railway project

By Amit Baruah

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), MAY 14. India today failed to obtain Malaysia's support for a separate summit meeting with the Association of South East Asian Nations as Kuala Lumpur linked the issue to improved relations ``between'' countries of South Asia, a clear reference to the Pakistan-India equation.

Briefing reporters after the talks between the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, and his Malaysian counterpart, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian Foreign Minister, Syed Hamid Albar, said his country also had a ``very negative'' response to the National Missile Defence scheme proposed by the United States.

The two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing of seven agreements, including one between IRCON International and the Malaysian Transport Ministry for the construction of a $1.8 billion railway line in Malaysia. Two other agreements on cooperation in developing Indian ports and another in information technology were also signed.

Talking to reporters, Dr. Mahathir urged a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue and said his country opposed both terrorism and state terrorism. The latter formulation, clearly, is up for interpretation, given the South Asian and Kashmir context.

Mr. Vajpayee informed Dr. Mahathir that while India was keen on resuming discussions with Pakistan, cross-border terrorism was holding up further progress. He referred to his Lahore ``yatra'' of February 1999 and its result - the Kargil conflict.

During the one-to-one meeting, Mr. Vajpayee raised the issue of recent attacks on members of the Malaysian-Indian community in a Kuala Lumpur suburb, in which five persons died. An official spokesman said Dr. Mahathir described the incident as a ``stray'' one and that it had been brought under control.

On a separate India-ASEAN summit, a proposal New Delhi has been lobbying for, Mr. Hamid conceded that there was need for enhancing India's role as a dialogue partner.

The Secretary (West), Mr. R.S. Kalha, said India did express the hope for a summit with the ASEAN during today's talks. Malaysia's stand was that the ASEAN had a relationship with China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN+3), which was in a state of flux.

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