International
SAARC must take up bilateral issues: Musharraf
KATHMANDU, JAN. 6. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, today called upon the SAARC to take up bilateral contentious issues at its forum. ``Without desirable peace, there could be little progress in the region. Bilateral differences must be resolved in the SAARC on the basis of justice and fairplay,'' he stated while proposing a vote of thanks at the end of the SAARC summit here.
His comment came despite the SAARC leaders ruling out the possibility of the association taking up bilateral issues so that the grouping was not hijacked by the Indo-Pak. political agenda. India has always refrained from raising bilateral issues at the SAARC.
Gen. Musharraf said bilateral disputes must be settled sincerely by the member-countries.
Pak. to host next summit
Gen. Musharraf said Pakistan would host the 12th SAARC summit next year and said the group's Ministers would work out the dates.
Later at a press conference, asked when the formal consultations between the two countries would be held, he said ``no dates have been fixed but there is an urgency for a formal dialogue and I hope it will occur in the near future''.
`A big table between us'
Asked to comment on some `papers' being exchanged between the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, and his Pakistani counterpart, Abdul Sattar, during an informal meeting, he said in a lighter vein pointing to Mr. Sattar, who was sitting beside him, ``Sattar saheb koi sher shaayeri to nahi exchange kar rahe the (was Mr. Sattar exchanging poetry)?'' ``They were definitely not talking about the weather,'' replied Gen. Musharraf when asked on another occasion whether the matters relating to bilateral relations figured during the informal talks between the two Ministers.
When a journalist asked why Mr. Vajpayee didn't respond to his handshake with an embrace, he sarcastically replied: ``there was a big table between us''. This raised a big laugh among the mediapersons, mainly Indians and Pakistanis.
Rejects extradition demand
Gen. Musharraf rejected India's demand for handing over criminals and terrorists such as the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Masood Azhar to it and said linking of the Kashmir issue with the attack on the Indian Parliament causes ``problems''. ``We are not into handing over anybody, anywhere,'' he said.
- UNI, PTI
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