NEW DELHI: Chandra Shekhar asked Sikh militants to come to the negotiating table to help find a peaceful solution to the Punjab problem.
Shekhar told reporters here that he was willing to talk to any citizen of India to solve the issue amicably.
He said the situation in Punjab was quite bad and his endeavor would be to convince the militants to give up their confrontationist attitude as, he felt, “it is self-defeating”. Referring to arrests of some militant leaders in the state on Nov 24, Shekhar said they had to be taken into custody because they were to adopt a resolution which would have created more misunderstanding.
On the situation at Ayodhya which witnessed communal disturbances last month over the Mosque structure, the prime minister expressed confidence that tension would not build up again.
Asked how he proposed to handle resumption of “kar seva” (voluntary service for the proposed temple) in Ayodhya on December 6, Shekhar said the situation was not as bad as earlier, There was talk of “symbolic kar seva”, he said.
Referring to Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif’s comments over the border dispute, Shekhar said he did not know under what compulsion his Pakistani counterpart had stated that “nothing, including the Shimla agreement, is binding.”
When Shekhar’s attention was drawn to Sharif’s observation that “Pakistan will continue to provide moral, political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris”, the prime minister said, I do not know on what basis he had made such statements. I have to verify.”
I have no comment to make if there is some compulsion for the Pakistan prime minister to make such statements”, he said.
Shekhar said he hoped Sharif would continue to show the same spirit which he “showed at Male during his meeting with me.” This was the only way to better Indo Pak relations.
The situation will further worsen if nations in the subcontinent fight with each other. The region is already in the grip of stark poverty. The situation will only be aggravated”, he said.
Stating that India did want to fight anybody the prime minister said the path of confrontation was fraught with danger and hoped Pakistan would desist from adopting such a course. “Still if somebody wants to have a confrontation, it may be his bad luck or good luck, I do not know”, he said.
In his talks with the Pakistani premier, Shekhar said he got the impression that Pakistan was also keen to resolve the bilateral issued peacefully.
On the hike in prices of petroleum products, Shekhar said government may consider reducing prices if the situation in gulf improves and stabilizes. “If international prices of petroleum products come down and the gulf situation establishes, we will consider reduction in the hike.
He said his government did not want to reduce prices of petroleum products now and raise it again if the gulf situation deteriorates.
Seeking to dispel doubts over the center’s wish to topple the government of Tamil Nadu, a close ally of the erstwhile National Front government, Shekhar said “T can’t help it if there is apprehension. There is no question of toppling the government.
He assured people of south Indian that Hindi language would not be imposed on them saying “languages cannot be imposed. They only develop. No language can be killed or imposed. The government’s policy was to encourage all languages.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 30, 1990
