May 7, 2002	Tuesday	Safar 23, 1423

NEW DELHI, May 6: The Indian government has banned a television advertisement spot showing President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee shaking hands.

The government has no objection to the handshake itself but frowned at it being used to sell iron rods, the minister for information and broadcasting informed parliament on Monday.

The punchline for the ad said while the bond of friendship between the two nations may not be very strong, the rods made by a particular firm were, Sushma Swaraj told the Rajya Sabha.

The United News of India quoted Swaraj as saying that the government also got the ad spot removed from various television channels for depicting Vajpayee “in a wrong light”.—dpa