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PM to go to Islamabad for SAARC summit: Fernandes

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE OCT. 20. The Defence Minister, George Fernandes, today hinted at the possibility of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, attending the 12th SAARC summit to be held in January next in Islamabad. He, however, ruled out immediate resumption of India-Pakistan talks.

Mr. Fernandes told presspersons here that the Government, after the Kathmandu summit, had announced Mr. Vajpayee's participation in the Islamabad summit. "I think that the commitment so far holds good,'' the Minister, who was here to attend the 22nd biennial conference of the All- India Primary Teachers' Federation, said.

Asked if there was any "forward movement'' on easing tensions between the two countries after the troop pull-out, he said there was no possibility of a dialogue with Islamabad as there was no let-up in cross-border terrorism.

He also ruled out any ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir. "There is no question of any kind of ceasefire. Where we are attacked, we will respond. We cannot lower our guard when someone is attacking us.''

Asked if the troop withdrawal was a sign of reduced tension, he said it indicated that "we have chosen to re-deploy our forces and Pakistan has reciprocated. In so far as terrorism is concerned, we have been fighting it for more than two decades now. We will keep fighting it whenever it surfaces".

On the recently-concluded elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Fernandes said it was a "good thing" that the people of the State had gone through free and fair polls for which the whole world "god bless, for whatever reasons'' was concerned.

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