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By Hasan Suroor
The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, being received by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at 10 Downing Street in London on Monday.
He also assured the visiting Indian Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, that he would take up the issue with the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, whom he was expected to meet here tomorrow. Mr. Advani, who met Mr. Blair at the Downing Street this morning, was apparently scathing in his assessment of Pakistan's continuing support for cross-border terrorism. He told Mr. Blair that there had been no appreciable change in the situation even after the renewed initiative by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to extend a hand of friendship. This was in line with his remarks at a meeting with Indian community leaders here on Sunday that there had been no change in the situation at all since he last visited the U.S. 15 or 16 months ago and that if any improvement had taken place it was entirely due to India's own security efforts. Mr. Advani told the British Prime Minister that despite lack of progress on cross-border terrorism, India was willing to have a composite dialogue with Pakistan to resolve all differences, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Indian officials said that Mr. Blair "fully appreciated'' the Indian assessment and expressed his sincere hope that there would be an "adequate'' response from Pakistan. Briefing reporters, the Indian High Commissioner, Ronen Sen, said that both Britain and the U.S. were aware of the assurances Pakistan had given on putting an end to cross-border terrorism, and it was now for them to judge whether those assurances had been honoured. Iraq also figured in the talks, but Mr. Sen emphasised that the issue of India sending its troops to Iraq was not raised. Mr. Blair, he said, "highlighted'' the role India could play in the "stabilisation'' and "reconstruction'' of Iraq, but no reference to Indian troops was made. The nature of the role India was expected to play in post-war Iraq was not specified. Bilateral issues which came during the meeting included economic relations between the two countries, and mutual cooperation in the areas of science and technology and information technology. The Indian side made much of the "atmospherics'' of the meeting and the "personal chemistry'' displayed by the two leaders. In a special gesture, Mr. Blair came to the doorstep to receive Mr. Advani and later escorted him out. In another departure from normal practice, Mr. Blair decided to move the meeting from the cabinet room to a more informal setting — on the sunlit lawns of Downing Street. In brief remarks to the media, Mr. Advani said he had a "very good meeting'' but was not drawn into the details of the talks. Later, he also met the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, who raised the issue of illegal immigrants in the context of the security threat posed by them, and the need for both countries to strengthen cooperation in fighting terrorism. The next meeting of the joint India-U.K. working group on terrorism would meet in Delhi in July. Meanwhile, Mr. Advani told Indian community leaders that the issue of dual citizenship was expected to be resolved by the end of the year. He also reiterated that Mr. Vajpayee would continue to lead India after the next elections.
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