December 16, 2002	Monday	Shawwal 11, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Sunday called upon India to hold negotiations with the Pakistan’s new government to resolve differences between the two countries.

“I was expecting that the Indian leadership would adopt a flexible attitude towards my government. Regrettably, it has not happened, yet I urge them to sit with us and discuss all contentious issues,” Mr Jamali told reporters after visiting the two-day All About Lifestyles exhibition organized by Dawn at the Convention Centre.

The exhibition, according to an estimate, was visited by some 76,000 people in two days.

“I do not know what stance the Indian government is adopting but we want to tell them that we are ready for talks,” he said.

The prime minister, however, made it clear that his government would continue the policies of President Gen Pervez Musharraf. “We are continuing the previous policies.”

Asked whether he would take the initiative to hold dialogue with India, Mr Jamali said he had no inhibition to meet any Indian leader for improving relations. “But I have not met Prime Minister Vajpayee sahib...I really don’t know him and now it has to be seen how to start dialogue with them.”

Apparently, he said, the Indian government had been saying something different about a matter on which Pakistan had a different approach. “...that is why I say that we should meet and discuss everything openly,” he said, adding his government wanted to establish good relations with India.

Asked about the differences within the PML-Q, Mr Jamali said the party’s central committee was meeting on Dec 20 to deal with the issue.

Nonetheless, he pointed out, nobody should hold two offices at the same time and added that he himself had resigned as the secretary-general after becoming the prime minister and had appointed Salim Saifullah acting secretary-general.

“My decision was in line with the decision of Mian Azhar who had earlier appointed Anwarul Haq Ramay as the information secretary of the PML-Q after the resignation of Begum Abida Hussain. Therefore, Mian sahib should not have any objection over the appointment of Salim Saifullah,” he said.

Prominent among those who visited the exhibition were Information and Media Development Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the adviser to prime minister on finance, Shaukat Aziz, and the District Nazim of Rawalpindi, Raja Tariq Kiani.

APP ADDS: Asked whether the issue of alleged nuclear cooperation with North Korea would be discussed during US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca’s visit to Pakistan, the prime minister said: “I have not yet seen the agenda of her visit.”