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Talks between Manmohan, Musharraf should be productive, says CPI (M)
Special Correspondent
| It should be utilised to resume composite dialogue: Prakash Karat |
CPI (M) leader Jyoti Basu arriving to attend the Polit Bureau meeting in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Kolkata: The leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) would like the proposed meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the XIV Non-aligned summit in Havana "to be productive and useful," party general secretary Prakash Karat said here on Wednesday.
"The proposed meeting should be utilised to resume composite dialogue with Pakistan," Mr. Karat said.
"While we press Pakistan to take steps on [cross-border] terrorism... we should not stop dialogue [with that country] but pursue it," he said.
"The United States' version of the global war on terrorism is not curbing terrorism but promoting it ... the U.S. has managed to export terrorism to new places" Mr. Karat said. He was sure that many countries participating in the Non-aligned summit did not share the U.S. perception on fighting terrorism.
The CPI (M) Polit Bureau, which held a two-day meeting that concluded on Wednesday, said India should support Venezuela's candidature for non-permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council, elections for which are to be held soon. It regretted that the Centre was yet to take a decision on whom to support from the Latin American-Caribbean region for the election. This view of the Left parties was communicated to the Prime Minister before his departure to Havana, Mr. Karat said.
"We have asked the United Progressive Alliance Government to take a decision and not go by which way the wind is blowing," he said. "The U.S. is totally opposed to Venezuela's membership and is working actively to foil its bid [for non-permanent membership in the Security Council] and get Guatemala elected ... There should be no question of supporting Guatemala, which has the worst human rights record in Latin America," he added.
"Identify Malegaon terrorists"
The Polit Bureau, which discussed the terrorist violence in the country in its meeting, also urged the Centre to make all efforts to identify those behind the Malegaon blasts. It "wanted both the State and the Central Governments to make a coordinated effort to uncover the network and groups behind such attacks."
"The blasts[ in Malegaon] occurring at a mosque and graveyard point to calculated efforts to create communal tensions and provoke communal violence," Mr. Karat said.
"Identifying them [those behind the blasts] is important for future intelligence gathering so that such attacks can be prevented."
He said the Polit Bureau has decided to send a team of CPI (M) parliamentary leaders to visit Malegaon "to learn what is happening there first-hand and also to convey the party's sympathy and solidarity with the people of Malegaon."
Basu to stay on
The Polit Bureau has decided that veteran leader Jyoti Basu "should continue to play his role and help, assist and advice it till the next party congress."
Mr. Basu had sought to be relieved of his responsibilities both in the Polit Bureau and the central committee for reasons of age and health. He raised the matter at the meeting.
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