National

PM tells Fernandes not to cancel Singapore trip

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MAY 30. Indicating India's desire to keep the diplomatic and military options open in its confrontation with Pakistan, the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, made a last-minute change in his schedule to visit Singapore where he will interact with world leaders.

Significantly, India will be attending this prestigious seminar on regional security, organised by the International Institute of Strategic Affairs, London, for the first time.

Pakistan has not been invited for the programme.

During his four-day tour, Mr. Fernandes is expected to engage in bilateral talks with senior policy-makers, including Defence Ministers from the United States, Russia, Britain and Canada, besides leaders from the Asian Pacific countries.

He will acquaint them with the current security situation in the region — particularly India's views on Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

Till this morning, Mr. Fernandes was planning to skip the seminar in favour of an interaction with the jawans at the forward posts — under heavy artillery fire from Pakistan — in Jammu and Kashmir.

However, he was told by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, about the inadvisability of cancelling the trip as it might send wrong signals to the international community.

He reportedly told Mr. Fernandes that he could utilise the occasion to acquaint the world leaders with Pakistan's failure to curb terrorist cross-border incursions into Indian territory, leading to the current military stand-off on the country's western borders, official sources said.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Rumsfeld, Armitage visiting India
• PM tells Fernandes not to cancel Singapore trip
• It is up to the global community to avert war: BJP
• Congress to focus on U.P. affairs
• 2 killed in Gujarat town
• Pak. disputes design of Bagliar power project
• BJP for early polls in Gujarat?
• Journalist dead
• Vaish is telecom panel chief
• TDP not soft on BJP, says Chandrababu Naidu
• Law on management of religious places likely
• NCERT on damage control mode
• 'Treaty may be scrapped if there is war with Pak.'

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu