Date:02/05/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/05/02/stories/2003050206760100.htm

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India wants 'official' word from Pak.

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI MAY 1. India today stated that it would respond to the Pakistani Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali's "offer" to visit New Delhi once it heard something "officially".

The Foreign Office spokesman reiterated that the issue of Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, going to Pakistan or Mr. Jamali coming over had figured in a very general way in Monday night's telephone conversation between the two leaders. As India and Pakistan make efforts to come out of an intense period of acrimony, the spokesman also responded to the latter's effort to convene a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on March 13 under Chapter VI of the U.N. Charter that relates to the "pacific" settlement of disputes.

According to official sources, this Pakistani effort, which has been in the pipeline for sometime, would raise the Jammu and Kashmir issue as part of outstanding international questions such as Palestine and Cyprus.

Pakistan took over as chairman of the Security Council for a month from today as a non-permanent member. The sources said that India was maintaining a close watch on the proposed discussion. The spokesman stated that it was for Islamabad to decide whether or not this effort was "compatible" with New Delhi extending the hand of friendship. On the positive references to Pakistan in the latest U.S. State Department report on global terrorism, the spokesman said he had "no comment" on the issue since it involved an American assessment of Pakistan. But, he went on to say that the report confirmed what had been evident to India for a long time — that infiltration had been fuelled from across the Line of Control (LoC).

Taking the argument forward, the spokesman said the report contradicted Pakistan's claims to the contrary. He maintained that this recognition of the Pakistani role in infiltration needed to be followed up with a resolution of this problem.

In gentle criticism, he said this is where the international community had not been able to meet with "as much success" as it should have. India, he stated, was aware of the realities of cross-border infiltration, the nature of these groups and where they drew their sustenance form.

The spokesman rejected that India was working on any kind of pressure as far as the incipient rapprochement process with Pakistan was concerned. "India does not work under pressure on these issues... the presumption of pressure should be discounted once and for all."