NEW DELHI, Oct 23: India remained tight-lipped on Wednesday about the fate of the Saarc summit due in Islamabad in January as a turf war intensified within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) targeting a key aide of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is seen as the author of improved ties with Pakistan.
“The Ministry of External Affairs today claimed that it has received a proposal for dates for the next Saarc summit in Islamabad,” Star News reported. “The move comes two days after the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna had denied receiving any such intimation.”
The denial on Monday followed a comment by junior foreign minister Digvijay Singh on television on Friday when he said: “The Prime Minister will go to Pakistan for the Saarc summit next year. He is going there for the Saarc summit, not for the bilateral process. Heads of state of all Saarc countries will be there.”
On Wednesday though there appeared to be far less certainty. “Even now there are no clear indications on what the next diplomatic initiative to ease tension between India and Pakistan will be, after the decision to withdraw troops from the border,” Star News said.
It however said that the next Saarc summit and preparatory meetings in Islamabad will be held between Jan 5 and 20 while the proposed dates for the summit are Jan 11-13.
Intriguingly, the report went on to say that “India has so far refused to confirm whether it’s taking part or not, placing a question mark on the summit itself.”
It also sought to explain what might happen under the circumstances, saying: “According to Saarc rules, if anyone of the countries refuses to attend, the summit has to be called off.”
While government sources admit that there will be pressure on Prime Minister Vajpayee to go to Islamabad, officially it has maintained that India’s participation is based entirely on whether Islamabad is ready to end support to terrorism, the report added.
The conclusion is at variance with what has been said so far by New Delhi about the Islamabad summit in which the issue of terrorism had so far not figured as a likely obstruction.
In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said in a statement that the dates for the summit have been duly conveyed to all the members of the seven-nation grouping.
“It was on Aug 28, that the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi had sent written communications to the Joint Secretary dealing with Saarc and to the Joint Secretary dealing with Pakistan in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs conveying 11- 13 January as the dates for the Saarc summit meeting,” he said.
Diplomatic observers see a scathing attack launched by the rightwing Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which sits in parliament as a member of the ruling BJP, on Brajesh Mishra, Vajpayee’s principal secretary and India’s National Security Adviser, appeared to be a likely cause for the contradictory response from Delhi.
The Prime Minister has called a crucial meeting with senior Rashtriya Swaymsewak Sangh on Thursday to seek their intervention in the war of attrition between the Prime Minister’s office and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has been repeatedly attacking Mishra and even questioning the credibility of Vajpayee. On Tuesday, the VHP alleged that the Prime Minister’s key-point person Mishra was responsible for the security restrictions in Ayodhya.
Mishra is regarded as the author of a soft line towards Pakistan who helped stage the Agra summit.
The rightwing elements in Vajpayee’s party have been opposed to the stance, much more so in recent days
as their eyes are riveted on crucial assembly elections in Gujarat.
