US visit: Terrorism high on PM’s agenda

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s main task while in New York next week will be to tell US President Bush and other world leaders about Pakistan’s failure to fulfil its promise of ending cross-border terrorism.
He will also highlight its attempts to disrupt the ensuing polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
The same issues are likely to dominate his meeting with Bush on September 12, scheduled for 40 minutes, which is, incidentally, the longest that Bush will spend with any of the world leaders.He will be meeting others who will arrive in New York on the first anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attack to express solidarity with Bush’s war on terror.
Vajpayee’s week-long visit to New York is expected to be a low-key affair. With the election process on in J&K, he is unlikely to take a public stand on any move to broker a solution to the Kashmir tangle. Media speculation, both here and in Pakistan, is that the ice on Kashmir could be broken through US mediation.
Bush is scheduled to meet Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf as well. The chances of a Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting, however, are slim. Sources here rule out such a meeting and the Indian ambassador in Washington, Lalit Mansingh, has termed such a meeting as ‘‘not likely’’.
Vajpayee, who will be meeting Bush on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, is also expected to seek support for a permanent membership in the UN Security Council.
The Prime Minister, who reaches New York on Tuesday, will attend the commemorative function organised the next day in memory of those who lost their lives in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on this day last year.
Vajpayee will join Bush and world leaders in lighting candles at a memorial for the victims. He is also expected to meet some relatives of Indians who lost their lives in the attack. About 220 people of Indian origin, including 17 to 20 Indian passport holders, are believed to have been killed.
Vajpayee will be without his constant teammate of four years — Finance Minister Jaswant Singh. He will be accompanied by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal. Mansingh and the country’s permanent representative in the UN, Vijay Nambiar, will also be part of the delegation.
Bilateral talks are scheduled with leaders of a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Japan and Mauritius.
The Prime Minister, in his address to the UN, is likely to underline the importance of the international community taking necessary steps to fully implement UN Security Council Resolution 1373 which makes it mandatory for member countries to eliminate all forms of terrorism, including action against sponsors.
India is likely to stress the importance of fighting terrorism comprehensively and not confining it to any ‘‘region or religion’’ and press home the point that this fight should be sustained till the menace is totally eliminated.
Vajpayee will have a significant meeting with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and discuss with him the situation there and the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the war-ravaged country.
Vajpayee will also meet representatives of GOPIO (Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin) and AAPI (American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin).
On September 14, he is expected to meet senators and congressmen of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
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