Sunday, May 18, 2003
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By B. Muralidhar Reddy
The Pakistan Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, made the disclosure in an untraditional way in the course of an interview to an Indian television journalist here today. It is significant that both India and Pakistan have chosen their serving envoys in China as the High Commissioners in New Delhi and Islamabad. Political, diplomatic and even Pakistan's Foreign Office circles were caught unawares by the announcement made by Mr. Jamali as it appears that Islamabad has not yet formally sent Mr. Khan's papers seeking an Agreema. Usually, the name of an envoy chosen for any country is not made public till the host country approves the agreement. A seasoned diplomat, Mr. Khan was one of Pakistan's main negotiators in the complex Geneva talks involving the erstwhile Soviet Union and the various groups fighting against its occupation of Afghanistan. It is a tribute to the perseverance and patience of Mr. Khan that Islamabad continued with him as the chief negotiator for the whole period of seven years the turmoil lasted. Mr. Khan mastered the art of holding tough negotiations as also handling the ever-hungry media. Journalists in Pakistan had an opportunity for a first-hand assessment of the skills of Mr. Khan when he functioned as the Foreign Office spokesman just before his posting to Beijing. He was particularly cut and dry on India-related questions but it was also a reflection of the state of relations between the two countries in those difficult months. Mr. Khan was so deeply involved in Afghan affairs that after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from that country, he wrote a book on the subject.
Release of prisoners delayed
In a related development, the planned release of 20 Indian prisoners by Pakistan, today was delayed due to logistic problems in transporting the prisoners from their the jails in Baluchistan to Wagah border point in Punjab. Indian High Commission officials here said the Pakistan Government had informed them that the prisoners would be released at Wagah at 9:30 a.m. (IST) tomorrow. The prisoners have already been released from Mach and Quetta. Apprehending delay in bringing the prisoners from the Mach and Quetta prisons by train to Lahore today well before the border point was closed by 4:00 p.m., the Pakistan Government decided to keep them in Lahore and hand them over tomorrow morning. The 20 prisoners include 14 crew members of the stranded Indian boat `Raj Lakshmi' and six Sikhs, who were apprehended for allegedly crossing into Pakistan from Iran without valid documents. As part of confidence-building measures, Mr. Jamali had announced early this month that the country would release 22 Sikh youths, 14 crew members of `Raj Lakshmi', along with around 300 Indian fishermen. However, only six of the 22 Sikh prisoners would be released tomorrow as New Delhi has identified them as Indian nationals. The rest of the Sikh prisoners and fishermen would be released after the completion of the identification process.
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