The Hindu : Talk to new Govt.: Musharraf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 24, 2002

Front Page

Front Page

Talk to new Govt.: Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Nov. 23. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, today hoped that with a civilian government in place in Islamabad, the Indian Government would resume the stalled dialogue with Pakistan for resolution of all differences and betterment of relations.

In an informal talk with reporters after administering oath of office and secrecy to the new Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, and his Council of Ministers, Gen. Musharraf complained that India had created problems during his regime. "The Indian Government did create hurdles in my case but now there is a new government, they should talk to them.''

Since the collapse of the Agra summit, Gen. Musharraf has repeatedly talked about the hurdles created by `hardliners' in India on normalisation of ties with Pakistan. In his interview to The Hindu, which appeared on April 1 this year, Gen. Musharraf had held the Union Home Minister, Lal Krishna Advani, responsible for the failure of the Agra summit.

Gen. Musharraf's hope on the resumption of talks was in response to a specific question on the proposed SAARC summit by Islamabad in January and non-confirmation of dates by India. His observations could be interpreted as a gentle reminder to India for an early response on the dates January 11-13 for the summit proposed by Pakistan.

In the last few days New Delhi and Islamabad have been engaged in a war of words on the proposed SAARC summit. While Pakistan maintains that there was a tentative agreement on the summit dates among the SAARC Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September, India insists that there was no such agreement.

Of course, Gen. Musharraf is also conveying a message that the military has nothing to do with the new civilian setup. Though it is three days since Mr. Jamali was elected Pakistan Prime Minister, the customary congratulatory message from New Delhi is yet to come.

Gen. Musharraf said he was happy to transfer power to the elected Prime Minister. "I have fulfilled yet another promise by handing over responsibility of the Chief Executive.''

New Foreign Minister

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 23. Khurshid Mehmood Qasoori, a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam), is the new Foreign Minister of Pakistan. The leader of the Pakistan People's Party's dissident group, Faisal Saleh Hayat, is the new Interior Minister and his senior colleague, Rao Sikandar Iqbal, the Defence Minister.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

Venkataswami quits Tehelka probe panel

Karnataka Govt. decides to send Kolathur Mani

G-20 resolves to choke terrorist funding

Talk to new Govt.: Musharraf

Pandya not in fourth list too

Rane's house torched

12 killed in J&K blast

Dalits killing: 7 more held

Katara murder: charges framed