Sunday, May 04, 2003
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By B. Muralidhar Reddy
The Acting High Commissioner of India, T.C.A. Raghavan, was invited to the Pakistan Foreign Office earlier in the day and handed over the request of Mr. Jamali to Mr. Vajpayee to travel to Pakistan. The invitation is a follow-up to the telephone conversation between Mr. Jamali and Mr. Vajpayee on Monday in which the Pakistan Prime Minister made a "general" reference to the subject. Mr. Jamali had told Mr. Vajpayee that while he was welcome to Islamabad, he (Mr. Jamali) was prepared to travel to India. The subject became controversial after the BJP spokesman, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, quoted Mr. Vajpayee as telling the BJP Parliamentary Party that he had "not accepted" the invitation. The following day, Mr. Jamali said that if Mr. Vajpayee could not visit Islamabad, he was prepared to go to New Delhi. Sources in the Pakistan Foreign Office maintained that Mr. Jamali's decision to send a formal invitation was more a statement of intent than anything else. "We are conscious of the statement made by Mr. Vajpayee in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that he was unable to accept the invitation,'' said a senior diplomat. Pakistan has interpreted the remarks in two ways— that Mr. Vajpayee is in no hurry to visit to Pakistan. He would like such a visit to be preceded by talks at various levels beginning at the official and culminating possibly at the summit-level. Hence, the emphasis in Islamabad on what is being called the "bottom to top" approach, keeping in view the experience of the Agra summit. In other words, a lot of groundwork would have to be done before going in for summit-level negotiations. At the moment, the focus is on restoration of full diplomatic relations. Mr. Jamali this morning received a telephone call from the United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell. Mr. Powell appreciated Jamali's initiative. This is perhaps, the first contact between Mr. Jamali and Mr. Powell since the former took office in November last year. An official statement said that Mr. Jamali assured Mr. Powell of Pakistan's "continuing positive and constructive" approach to start a meaningful dialogue with India. Pakistan would soon announce measures aimed at creating a congenial atmosphere and to promote peace and security. As a follow-up to his phone call, he had sent a formal invitation to Mr. Vajpayee. Mr. Powell assured Mr. Jamali that the U. S. would continue to make efforts to promote better understanding between India and Pakistan, enabling resumption of dialogue leading to the peaceful resolution of problems between the two countries. Mr. Jamali expressed "satisfaction" over the close and cooperative relations between Pakistan and the U. S. In this context he looked forward to receiving soon the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Armitage, who would soon be visiting Pakistan.
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