The Hindu : `PM not averse to bilateral meeting with Musharraf'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 06, 2003

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International

`PM not averse to bilateral meeting with Musharraf'

By Amit Baruah

ABUJA (NIGERIA) DEC. 5. The Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was a happy man as he took credit for his party's emphatic victory in the recent Assembly elections in three States, during an interaction with presspersons on board the special Air India aircraft that brought him here in the early hours of Friday for the Commonwealth summit.

But his attention was focussed not only on the just-concluded elections. Mr. Vajpayee was quite content to answer questions on a separate bilateral session with Pakistani leaders on the sidelines of the January 4-6 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Islamabad.

Asked whom he would prefer to meet in a separate bilateral meeting in Islamabad — the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, or the Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali — Mr. Vajpayee said on Thursday afternoon: "They [the Pakistanis] must have made some arrangement. We will meet whoever they want."

But what would be his personal preference? "Jo mile so theek hai (I am okay with whoever I meet)," he replied.

And them came the poetic bit. "Jo mile, yeh bhi sahi, voh bhi sahi, vardaan mangoonga nahin (Whoever I meet, this person or that, will be fine, but I shall not be asking for any boons)," Mr. Vajpayee said enigmatically.

This is probably the clearest indication yet that there will be a bilateral meeting between the Pakistani leadership and Mr. Vajpayee in Islamabad. The import of the Prime Minister's remarks is that he is not averse to a bilateral meeting with Gen. Musharraf either.

As India-Pakistan relations enter yet another roller-coaster phase, moving from rock bottom to euphoria, Mr. Vajpayee has made the right decision. The Prime Minister has indicated that Pakistan is free to decide who should meet him — Gen. Musharraf or Mr. Jamali.

The dynamics of Pakistani politics is far from hidden. Meeting Mr. Jamali is important, but signalling that he is willing to meet Gen. Musharraf is, perhaps, more important at this juncture in bilateral relations.

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`PM not averse to bilateral meeting with Musharraf'