PM visit to Malaysia, Japan put off

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 3. Bowing to domestic political pressure, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, today decided to postpone, for now, his official visit to Malaysia and Japan to remain in the country and oversee the relief efforts in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Gujarat. Mr. Vajpayee's journey was to begin on February 7 and was to last till February 14.

There were murmurs of protest that the Prime Minister was himself planning to be away on a foreign trip while asking the entire country to pitch in with relief and rehabilitation in Gujarat. The trip, it was felt, would have been seen as an expression of insensitivity, given the enormity of the devastation caused by the quake.

Earlier, the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, postponed his proposed trip to Turkey, which was to have begun on January 30 last. Mr. Advani has been camping in Gujarat. The Prime Minister did visit the State for a day on January 29. The next day, however, he was in Lucknow, where it was reported that the State Government had spent a staggering Rs. 2 crores on advertising the prime ministerial visit. It was obvious that whatever the possible foreign policy gains, the Malaysia/Japan trip would have resulted in domestic political losses to Mr. Vajpayee.

The decision to postpone the trip had been taken by the time the Prime Minister met the leaders of the political parties this morning. Obviously, Mr. Vajpayee felt compelled not to let other political parties make the suggestion and then be seen as giving in to the Opposition's demand. A quick consultation with the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, away in Cairo, firmed up the decision to put off the trip.

The Foreign Secretary, Mr. Lalit Mansingh, intimated the envoys of the two countries the Prime Minister's decision to reschedule the trip. According to a statement of the Ministry of External Affairs, ``the Governments of Malaysia and Japan have been informed and they have expressed full understanding of this decision. We will work with the Governments of these two countries to identify mutually convenient dates for the Prime Minister's visit as early as possible.''

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