NEW DELHI, Dec 9: A day after he ruled out talks with Pakistan over alleged terrorism Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee met Pakistan’s acting high commissioner Jaleel Abbas Jilani in a rare meeting at an Eid reception on Wednesday.
“It is a pleasure meeting you,” Vajpayee told Jilani amid a barrage of flashlights as other senior diplomats waited in the queue to meet the prime minister at his residence.
Jilani told Dawn the meeting was “spontaneously warm even if brief.” He had last met Mr Vajpayeein in August during a presidential Independence Day reception. Only on Saturday Mr Vajpayee was accusing Pakistan of fomenting trouble in India and ruled out talks with Islamabad, saying the conditions were not conducive for them.
Addressing his second election rally in Gujarat, which shares its border with Pakistan, Mr Vajpayee said President Pervez Musharraf had been offering talks even as he promoted terrorism in Gujarat.
Earlier, in his first election address at Vadodara, Vajpayee complimented the state chief minister Narendra Modi for his controversial stewardship and asked the people to elect a government that would cooperate with the centre to ensure the state’s continued progress.
“Take care not to elect a government that could bicker with the central government. We want a hunger-free, educated and peaceful country. For this, cooperation between the states and the centre is necessary,” Vajpayee told a mammoth gathering at the polo ground in Vadodra.
There has been speculation that after the Gujarat polls India might relax travel restrictions on people from both sides, easing also the stalled air and rail traffic between the two countries.
Unofficially it is being suggested that India could wait for the anniversary of the Dec 13 attack on parliament, trigger for the subsequently worsened relations, to be over before taking any measures to revert to at least the normal to and fro of people from both sides.
Vajpayee’s key advisor Brajesh Mishra is expected to return from his current visit to Washington with a message to ease the ties further a step also suggested by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his recent visit to New Delhi.—J.N
