NEW DELHI, Sept 16: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Tuesday arrives in Turkey on his way to New York where he will meet a host of leaders including the heads of Russia, United States, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan but, according to officials, would pointedly avoid President Pervez Musharraf.
Mr Vajpayee is in Ankara on an official visit and then arrive in New York on Sept 19 to attend the UN General Assembly session. He is due to speak at the UNGA on Sept 25, a day after President Musharraf’s address.
Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said an emphatic “no”, when he was asked at a pre-departure press briefing whether Mr Vajpayee would meet President Musharraf in New York.
That all is not well in the bilateral ties could also be gleaned from a clutch of statements, which effectively said that India could not commit troops in Iraq because of an upsurge in violence in Jammu and Kashmir where they are more needed. Some analysts have even spoken of increased tension along the Line of Control in Kashmir.
While Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha will inevitably find himself face to face with Mr Kasuri during a ministerial meeting of Saarc members in New York, New Delhi has ruled out a bilateral chat.
In fact both Mr Sinha and Mr Sibal have taken turns to cold-shoulder the suggestion that Mr Kasuri may visit New Delhi to deliver the formal invitation for the Saarc summit scheduled in Islamabad early next year.
Actually Mr Sinha, speaking in an interview to the Hindustan Times at the weekend, was the first to discourage Mr Kasuri’s visit, although he did not rule it out.
Mr Sibal, in a pre-departure briefing to the media, made similar observations, pointing out that the Saarc Standing Committee of Foreign Secretaries had already finalized the dates which were known to all member countries.
“It is not as if under the Saarc Charter or on the basis of established practice personal handing over of invitation is required. It is a different matter that X, Y or Z may choose to do so. But this is not a requirement,” he said.
Observing that the Summit dates and the invitation to attend it were there, he said “there is no need to reinforce the invitation by any personal invitation”.
He also said there was no official intimation from the Pakistani side “to the effect that he is desirous of visiting New Delhi”.
“Dates have been fixed and we are working according to them,” he said on whether Mr Vajpayee would travel to Islamabad for the summit.
Mr Sibal stressed that in order to make the Saarc summit meaningful, “it is necessary that there is forward movement on the economic agenda because Saarc does not have any meaning without a robust economic agenda”.
