'Musharraf-PM meet only if India is keen'

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, AUG. 19. Pakistan has put the onus on India for a meeting between its President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, in New York in the third week of September.

``If the two leaders are in New York and a meeting can be arranged between the two, we would be happy.

But if the Indians are not interested or keen on holding a meeting, then there will be no meeting,'' the Pakistan Foreign Secretary, Mr. Inam-ul-Haq, said here.

Before leaving Washington at the end of his official visit, Mr. Haq spoke to Pakistani journalists on a range of issues including sanctions, Afghanistan, relations with India, terrorism and export controls.

Responding to reports in India that Pakistan would not raise Kashmir at the SAARC, Mr. Haq said, ``we have given absolutely no commitment to India that Kashmir will not be raised at international forums where we consider necessary.''

On Kashmir, he said Islamabad considered the United Nations Resolutions still valid and that they should be implemented to resolve the 54-year-old dispute.

The Foreign Secretary said Pakistan had assured the United States that steps had been taken to ensure there was no authorised leakage of sensitive technology.

The Bush administration had given Pakistan some papers outlining the system of export controls the U.S. had in place and Islamabad would be studying these ``in due course''.

Mr. Haq reiterated the known Pakistan line on sanctions - that the U.S., after simultaneously imposing sanctions against India and Pakistan in 1998, would have to simultaneously lift them against the two countries.

But Bush administration officials, while acknowledging that something would have to be done for Pakistan, said some punitive measures were democracy-related.

Denying reports in Pakistan that Washington had asked Pakistan for a base to attack Osama bin Laden's hideouts in Afghanistan, Mr. Haq said there was no linkage between terrorism and Osama bin Laden.

He also played down suggestions that the U.S. was looking for concessions for relaxing sanctions.

``I don't think they are asking for any concessions from Pakistan on the issue of sanctions. The issue of Osama bin Laden and terrorism was discussed separately and there is no linkage, in my view, between the two subjects.''

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Section  : International
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