NEW DELHI, JUNE 2, 1988, REUTER — Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, urged) Pakistan on Thursday to stop aiding Sikh Freedom Fighters in Punjab, the Press Tust of India (PTI) reported.
It said Gandhi made the appeal to Pakistani Foreign Secretary Abdul Sattar, Pakistan Foreign Ministry’s top civil servant, who met him after ending two days of talks with his Indian counterpart K.P.S. Menon,
Pakistan denies aiding Sikh militants fighting a determined campaign for an independent homeland in the North Indian state of Punjab despite repeated Indian accusations.
Senior officials from India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since 1947, ended two days of high level talks In New Delhi on Thursday but remained tightlipped about the outcome.
‘A joint press statement said only that Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Abdul Sattar, his ministry’s senior civil servant, held wide ranging talks with his Indian counterpart K.P.S, Menon and also met Indian defense minister K.C. Pant.
Troops from both sides, which fought their last war In 1971, have clashed intermittently on a glacier straddling their border in the disputed northern state of Kashmir since March 1987.
India also says it has conclusive proof that Pakistan was training Sikh militants fighting for an Independent homeland in the north Indian state of Punjab, a charge denied by Islamabad.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 10, 1988
