Date:11/10/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/10/11/stories/2002101105451200.htm

International

Vajpayee's U.K. visit to be low-key

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON OCT. 10. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee's whistle-stop visit to Britain tomorrow will be a low-key affair, his only official engagement being a meeting with the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at his weekend retreat, Chequers, on Saturday.

Call it ignorance or sheer lack of interest, Downing Street claimed not to know anything about the visit. ``We have no information, we can't confirm anything,'' an official said on Thursday.

The Indian side, however, attaches much significance to the visit which Mr. Vajpayee will use to convey, once again, India's concern over ``continuing'' Pakistani support to cross-border terrorism. He is also expected to apprise Mr. Blair of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and point out that despite Pakistan-inspired violence people turned out in large numbers to vote in the Assembly elections showing, as he said in an interview to a British newspaper, that Kashmiris were not with Pakistan.Britain has consistently maintained that it shares Indian concerns over cross-border terrorism and both Mr. Blair and the U.K. Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, have made strong statements in recent months pressing Pakistan to rein in the militants. Mr. Vajpayee, however, is likely to tell his host that Islamabad has not delivered on its pledge to put an end to its support to the ``jehadis''.

Observers here have reacted positively to Mr. Vajpayee's comments that there ``will be no war'' with Pakistan and that India is willing to resume talks with Islamabad on all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, provided it stops supporting terrorists. His remarks, in an interview to The Independent earlier this week, have been contrasted with what one commentator described as ``war-like utterances'' of some of his more hawkish colleagues, notably the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani. Indian officials said the focus of talks would be on bilateral relations, especially economic cooperation. This is Mr. Vajpayee's second visit to the U.K. in less than a year, and while his previous visit, in November last year, was overshadowed by Britain's preoccupation with the impending attack on Afghanistan this time it is Iraq which is weighing on his host's mind.