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| Sunday, 1 December 2002 |
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Pakistan warns it will not accept preconditions for SAARC ISLAMABAD, Saturday (AFP) Pakistan warned Friday it would not accept preconditions for India's attendance at a South Asian summit to be hosted by Islamabad early next year. "The government of Pakistan will not countenance any preconditions from any quarters merely to ensure their participation in the summit," a foreign ministry statement said. Pakistan is to host the 12th meeting of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and has proposed January 11 to 13 as possible dates. India has yet to confirm its participation, saying that as little progress has been made on decisions agreed to at the last meeting in Nepal in January, a new summit would be meaningless. Brajesh Mishra, a senior aide of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's, told the BBC's "Hardtalk" Thursday it would be "very difficult" for Vajpayee to attend the summit if key regional trade pacts were not implemented soon. "We could consider it, but in the absence of any substance to the summit, of course it's very difficult for the prime minister to go," Mishra said. The foreign ministry said pre-conditions for India's participation "go against the letter and spirit of the SAARC Charter." The grouping has sought to forge two regional trade pacts, the SAARC Preferential Trade Agreement and the SAARC Free Trade Agreement, but lingering tensions between Pakistan and India have hampered progress. The arch-rivals have fought three wars since Pakistan's 1947 partition from India, two of them over the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir which is divided between the two and claimed by both. |
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