Author:
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: May 28, 2003
Introduction: Vajpayee Embarks On
3-Nation Tour, Says More Confidence-Building Measures Will Follow
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
on Tuesday declared that India wanted to start talks with Pakistan .as
soon as possible' but made it clear that for a meaningful dialogue cross-border
terrorism should end and terror infrastructure dismantled.
Before embarking on a three-nation
tour, Mr Vajpayee also said that India would take "more" confidence-building
measures to carry forward its peace initiatives with Pakistan.
"Some steps have already been taken
and more will be taken," he told reporters at the IGI airport here, a day
after India announced its decisions to resume the Delhi-Lahore bus service
and release 130 Pakistani prisoners lodged in Indian jails.
To questions on when the two countries
would resume talks in the wake of several peace initiatives taken by New
Delhi, Mr Vajpayee said, "We want it to be as soon as possible. But
for a meaningful dialogue to begin, cross-border terrorism should end and
terror infrastructure dismantled."
The Prime Minister, who left for
Germany on the first leg of his eight-day tour that would also take him
to Russia and France, said he was confident that an atmosphere would be
created for Indo-Pak talks to begin.
Mr Vajpayee, who has been specially
invited by French president Jacques Chirac for a "broader dialogue" on
June one ahead of the G-8 summit in the French Alpine town of Evian on
the Franco-Swiss border, will hold bilateral meetings with various
heads of state and government present
there. Asked whether he would be meeting US president George W Bush
either in St Petersburg in Russia or in Evian, he said "I do not know about
any such meeting at the moment". Besides Chirac, PMO sources said Mr Vajpayee
would have bilateral meetings with German's Gerhard Schroeder, Russian
president Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao. Meetings
with Tony Blair and leaders of Canada, Belarus and other nations were in
the process of being lined up.
(Agencies)
