Vajpayee sends goodwill message to Musharraf
IRNA
New Delhi, Dec 27, IRNA -- As the aftershock of terrorist attack on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf reverberated across New Delhi, India`s Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee sent a message to the Pakistani President Friday, expressing empathy and concern and relief that he was safe. According to the Indian Express, a New Delhi-based English daily, the message which was communicated on Prime Minister`s behalf to Musharraf comes as confirmation of Vajpayee`s determination to attend the SAARC summit, notwithstanding the seriousness of the security situation. In Islamabad, India`s high commissioner to Pakistan Shiv Shanker Menon attended a scheduled dinner thrown by President Musharraf Friday evening for all heads of missions in Pakistan, on the eve of the SAARC summit. It is not known if Menon delivered the message to President Musharraf or whether it was sent directly to the General from New Delhi. Whatever the details, highly placed sources here confirmed that "India was well on track" to attend the SAARC summit from January 4-6, 2004. Certainly, the fact that Musharraf was the near-victim of a second terrorist attack within two weeks, and that within the high security Islamabad-Rawalpindi zone, has generated sympathy in New Delhi. Analysts here believe that the militant attack had to have "links" with the Army establishment, especially since 12 men from Musharraf`s own carcade were killed. Moreover, the fact that there was barely a difference of 10 seconds between Musharraf`s car and the one that was hit by the suicide bomber, as well as the fact that a second attack was carried out within minutes, has also caused serious concern here. While security agencies are reviewing the situation, sources said, they confirmed that there was no danger of the Prime Minister going back on his decision to attend SAARC. However, another security team will leave for Pakistan later this week to finalize preparations. One section of the establishment continues to believe, however, that despite the two terrorist attacks on him, the General has "still not taken the final decision" to permanently end cross-border terrorism by dismantling the infrastructure of terrorist training camps. However, sources conceded that Islamabad was being "much more reasonable" than ever before, especially on the trade-related agenda that will dominate the forthcoming SAARC summit. For example, at the last round of Commerce Secretary-level talks, Islamabad had agreed to enhance the number of items on the preferential trading list from 18 to 223, while India had put another 277 items on the list. In addition, Pakistan had agreed to remove all import restrictions on these 223 items and put them on open, general license. Sources said India "understood" the internal tensions within Pakistan that prevented it from formally giving New Delhi "most favored nation" status. Once the SAARC free trading area came into play, sources added, MFN would become superfluous. India`s foreign Secretary Shashank leaves for Islamabad on Monday to attend the SAARC Foreign Secretary-level meeting on December 30-31. External Affairs minister Yashwant Sinha will travel on January 1, crossing Wagah by road for the SAARC Foreign Ministers meeting on January 2-3. Prime Minister Vajpayee and his entourage will arrive on the evening of January 3 for the summit which begins the next day. They will fly back on the evening of January 6. /213 End
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