BJP TODAY

May 16--31, 2003 - Vol. 12, No. 10

The great Vajpayee touch again: the world appreciates his bold offer
World leaders acclaim the statesman-like approach
By our Special Correspondent

With his April 18 offer from Srinagar to Pakistan of talks with Pakistan receiving encouraging response, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared in the Rajya Sabha on May 2 that he would make yet another attempt at normalising relationship with Pakistan.

"The dialogue will decisive at least during my lifetime, this will be the last effort", the statesman-Prime Minister told the Upper House We reproduce the text of his statement in the House at the end of this article.

However, Atalji made it clear that he was not visiting Pakistan immediately in response to an invitation by the Pakistan Prime Minister Jamali Full preparation were necessary before any such visit could take place, he said However, he indicated that air links, cricket, and trade talks might immediately begin and a regular High Commission would be appointed soo.

Here are the texts of the acclaim Atalji received from all over the world.

U.S. hails Vajpayee's statesmanship
By Sridhar Krishnaswami

The State Department has "enthusiastically" welcomed the developments in the subcontinent and hailed the "extraordinary statesmanship" of the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee
The administration has also applauded India and Pakistan for taking "bold staeps" to move away from cofrontation and towards engagement. "We enthusiastically welcome this news. The Prime Minister, Vajpayee, has shown extraordinary statesmanship in talking this bold step. We applaud India and Pakistan for continuing to move away from confrontation and towards engagement with each other," a State Department Official told The Hindu.

Japan welcomes overtures
By P.S. Suryanarayana

The Japanese Foreign Minister, Yoriko Kawaguchi, today welcomed the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's new initiative of renewing diplomatic ties with Pakistan at the highest functional level and restoring civil aviation links.

Describing New Delhi's moves as a "positive announcement" she said that Japan "hopes" that the initiative "will contribute to further promotion of relations between India and Pakistan". Japan, which constantaly keeps the India-Pakistan issues within its diplomatic compass while engaging the other major powers, had taken a positive view of the moves by Mr. Vajpayee and the Pakistan Prime Ministe, Zafarullah Khan Jamali, that set the stage for today's development.

Although China did not make an immediate comment on Mr. Vajpayee's latest step, Beijing has already welcomed his recent overture to Pakistan as announced in Srinagag and Mr. Jamali's subsequent telephone call.

"All this is very, very promising at a time when we were begining to wonder whether or not we were not going back to the potential of conflict," the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, told reporters during a brief visit to Albania.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, speaking to the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, expressed support for all the steps taken to achieve political stability in the region.

"Mr. Vajpayee has shown true statesmanship by taking a fresh initiative for peace in the region," the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said during a telephonic conversation with the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha.

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, said that "it was the Prime Minister's bold initiative during his recent visit of Kashmir and if this process makes headway I am hopeful of a good outcome."

Courtesy, The Hindu

Congress, Left parties welcome peace measures

Political parties have responded positively to the latest steps announced by the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in the direction of improving Indo-Pakistan relations.

Welcoming the move, the BJP spokesman, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said that during his conversation with Mr. Vajpayee, the Pakistan Prime Minister had condemned terrorism. However, he stressed that the party would prefer that Islamabad take concrete action and not restrict it to words.

He said the latest move was the last chance to establish peace between India and Pakistan and hoped that the latter respond positively to the steps announced by India.
Mr. Malhotra said there were reports even today of infiltration and hoped that Pakistan would see to it that it comes to a stop.

He also welcomed the Prime Minister's statement that there would be no third party mediation.
The Congress said the announcements were on expected lines. The party spokesman, Anand Sharma said the party had always held the opinion that diplomatic channels should be kept open between the two countries.

The CPI general secretary, A.B. Bardhan suggested that India take action step by step towards restoration of normality between New Delhi and Islamabad. He said the decision of allowing civil flights was necessary since both nations were incurring huge losses.

The CPI(M) said the steps taken to improve ties between the two nations were in the right direction. The party politburo member, Prakash Karat said the CPI(M) had said channels of diplomatic communication and people-to-people contacts should not have been snapped. The latest steps were towards normalisation to relations, he added.

The TDP Parliamentary Party leader, K. Yerrannaidu, welcomed the announcement but said, both infiltration and cross-border terrorism had to stop.

Courtesy, The Hindu