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NDA decides to boycott Qazi's 'high tea'

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

A meeting of the coordination committee of the National Democratic Alliance chaired by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee decided on Wednesday that no partner of the ruling coalition would attend Pakistani High Commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi's 'high tea' in honour of President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday.

NDA convener George Fernandes told reporters that Qazi had not invited any official of the Jammu & Kashmir government, though he had sent out invitations to the seven executive committee members of the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference.

"By inviting the Hurriyat, Pakistan has tried to show that it is only these people who are the representatives of the Kashmiri people," Fernandes said.

He pointed out that India, through External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, had conveyed to the Pakistani leadership that the government was not in favour of the Hurriyat being invited to the tea party. Yet, the Pakistani leadership went ahead and did just that.

According to Fernandes, Vajpayee told the meeting that the Indian side would discuss various issues with Pakistan to improve bilateral relations, including trade, cultural ties and Jammu & Kashmir.

He emphasized that the terrorism in J&K would also be discussed with General Musharraf at the Agra summit.

Vajpayee referred to India's confidence-building measures, like easier visas for Pakistani nationals.

Among those who attended the meeting were Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, BJP chief Jana Krishnamurthy, the DMK's Murasoli Maran, Nitish Kumar of the Samata Party, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa of the Shiromani Akali Dal and Suresh Prabhu of the Shiv Sena.

Interestingly, the main opposition Congress, the Samajwadi party and the Communist Party of India, Marxist, have decided to attend the tea party.

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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