Front Page
Jaswant non-committal on meeting Sattar
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, JAN. 1. A day before his departure to Kathmandu, the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, was non-committal on the possibility of meeting his Pakistan counterpart, Mr. Abdul Sattar, at the SAARC summit.
With a summit meeting between the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Pakistan President, Mr. Pervez Musharraf, virtually ruled out, hopes are being pinned on a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of both countries. Emerging from a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), Mr. Singh said, ``I have no confirmation of a meeting (with Mr. Sattar)''.
He indicated that New Delhi expected Islamabad to formally inform it about the measures taken to curb cross-border terrorism. ``We cannot be expected to reply to every report,'' he said when asked to confirm reports that Pakistan was not satisfied with the evidence on the December 13 attack on Parliament House.
While India has responded positively to the arrest of the head of the parent organisation of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the 90-day remand of the Jaish chief, it has serious reservations on some of the economic measures adopted by Pakistan against the terrorist organisations.
According to a media report in Pakistan, Islamabad has apprised the U.S. of details about the bank accounts frozen. However, only Rs. 900 has been found in the Muslim Commercial Bank account of the Jaish-e-Mohammad. There is apprehension here that the staggered freezing of 50 bank accounts by Pakistan has given enough time for account holders to withdraw their money. Besides, the crackdown on their financial assets may have been selective.
The hour-long CCS meeting was officially billed as a stock-session before the Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister left for the Kathmandu meeting tomorrow. It is understood that the security scenario and diplomatic options before India were discussed.
Earlier, the new chiefs of the Indian Air Force and Navy called on the Prime Minister. They also acquainted him with the security scenario and the preparedness of the armed forces to deal with the current situation.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Front Page
|
