 |
Kathmandu Saturday January 05, 2002 Paush 21, 2058.
|
Summit rescheduled for today
By Damakant Jayshi
KATHMANDU, Jan 4 : Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf
arrived in Kathmandu more than three hours late today, dealing a minor jolt to the 11th
SAARC Summit that was scheduled to open at 2.30 p.m. today. As a result of the delay, host
Nepal was compelled to put off the inauguration of the much-delayed summit till 10 a.m.
tomorrow.
Initially however, Nepali Foreign Ministry officials cited
"special reason" for the postponement of the Summit. But later, Finance Minister
Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, who is officiating as Foreign Minister, said that Nepal took the
decision to postpone the meeting of the seven heads of state and government as it could
not see the possibility of the Summit being held today after Pakistani President
Musharraf’s flight from China was delayed due to bad weather over Chengdu.
The official explanation has failed to cut ice with many
foreign journalists who have converged in Kathmandu to cover the Summit as well as the
on-going tension between India and Pakistan.
President Musharraf arrived on a Chinese aircraft via
Beijing, taking a long detour to come to Kathmandu as India had banned all Pakistani
aircraft from entering its airspace. The action was prompted by Indian accusations that
Pakistan is harbouring terrorist groups linked to the attack on the Indian Parliament on
December 13. Pakistan, which denies the charges, has also slapped a ban on Indian aircraft
in its airspace.
In Kathmandu today, Dr Mahat quickly pointed out that all the
formal programmes were on schedule despite the postponement of the inauguration. However,
the retreat of the seven leaders that was to take place tomorrow at a private resort in
Nagarkot has been pulled out of the schedule.
The retreat had been a source of much speculation since many
thought that both Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Pakistani President
Musharraf would be compelled to meet at Nagarkot in an informal setting.
Despite the official explanation as to what exactly led to
the postponement, many here have failed to buy that argument. Especially, Pakistani
journalists who feel that India arm-twisted Nepal into postponing the summit so that
Saturday’s retreat could be cancelled, thus snuffing out the Vajpayee-Musharraf
meeting.
"Of course, it is India which is behind the
postponement. I have no doubts about it," said M. Saleh Zaafir, an editor with the
Jang Group in Pakistan.
However, a reporter with a well-known Indian TV news channel
dismissed the charge. "It is puerile and childish imagination which deserves no
reaction," he said, declining to be identified. Yet another journalist with an
English daily from India reasoned that since both India and Pakistan did not want their
top leaders meeting during the retreat, the inaugural session was postponed today, ruling
out the retreat.
Nirupama Rao, the Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson while
declining to attach any motive to Gen. Musharraf’s delayed flight, said that she was
given to understand that since a delayed inaugural was too close to the banquet to be
hosted by His Majesty the King in the evening, the summit was put off until tomorrow.
Rao also said that the shortened period of the Summit from
three to two days would not have any adverse impact on its agenda. She also revealed that
the draft declaration for the Summit was almost ready and there was near unanimity on the
draft among all the seven-nation delegates. Speaking about the draft, the spokesperson
said that it basically addressed three core issues, namely poverty alleviation, regional
economic integration and terrorism.
Other Stories
|
