Author: ENS & Agencies
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: June 12, 2003
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani
received an unscheduled visitor soon after his arrival here, when US Defence
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called on him at his hotel room. But a personal
friend never showed up as expected: Former Pakistan envoy to India Ashraf
Jehangir Qazi, currently his country's envoy here.
Sources said Qazi had sent a message
to Advani through a common friend, a couple of days before the Deputy Prime
Minister left for the US, to find out if he was welcome to call on him
at Washington.
Advani had said 'yes' without thinking
twice.
Soon after his arrival here, Advani
asked Indian Ambassador Lalit Mansingh whether there'd been any message
from Qazi expressing a wish to meet him. Mansingh replied in the negative.
As Advani flew off to Los Angeles today after the conclusion of his official
talks with President George W Bush and senior US officials, there was no
word from Qazi.
The Pakistani diplomat had shared
a warm personal relationship with Advani during his stint in New Delhi
and kept in touch with him even after he was forced to leave following
India's withdrawal of its High Commissioner to Islamabad in the wake of
the attack on Parliament.
In fact, he had recently gifted
a biography of Abraham Lincoln's to Advani. In the accompanying letter,
Qazi told the Deputy Prime Minister that the pleasant memories of his stay
in Delhi were still fresh in his mind and affirmed that he could not forget
the warm personal support he had received from him and his family throughout
his tenure.
One incident that touched Qazi was
when, during a dinner at Imperial Hotel at New Delhi the day after the
attack on Parliament, he stood completely isolated and dejected. Advani's
wife Kamla happened to spot him and sent for him.
While they were engaged in conversation,
Advani also walked in and joined them. He immediately sought to pull Qazi
out of the feeling of being unwanted by saying that, though they both had
certain national commitments to fulfill, there was no reason for these
to interfere in personal relations.
Earlier, declaring that Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee has "gambled for peace", US President George W Bush
conveyed to Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani that the American Government
is "conscious" that no progress in Indo-Pak talks is possible unless Pakistan
ends cross-border terrorism.
Briefing reporters at the end of
his two-day Washington visit during which he held talks with top US leadership,
including Bush, Advani said the US President has assured that he would
speak to his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf when the two meet later
this month about creating a climate in which Vajpayee's peace initiative
could succeed.
Advani said Bush warmly appreciated
the Prime Minister's peace overture with Pakistan and stated "he (Vajpayee)
has gambled for peace and provided political space for resolving differences,
without forgoing the concern for security."
Advani made it clear that his US
visit was not Pakistan-centric but dealt with a broader canvass of Indo-American
relations which are progressing well.
Asked whether the US Government
agrees with India that no progress in Indo-Pak talks is possible unless
cross-border infiltration into Kashmir ends, Advani said "the American
Government is conscious of all these facts but every government has its
foreign policy interests to safeguard, and those foreign policy interests
may be based upon certain assessments with which India may not agree."
"That is a different matter. He
would give scope to every country, even in its position against terrorism,
to look after its own foreign policy interests. India also would like to
do the same," the Deputy Prime Minister said.
