NEW DELHI: The Indian government which was not tired of talking of holding a dialogue on the Kashmir question with the elected government of Pakistan, has quietly shied away from meeting the Pakistan prime minister. An opportunity of such a meeting was provided by the forthcoming session of the commonwealth head of state in Cyprus. Neither Prime Minister Narasimha Rao nor foreign minister Dinesh Singh are scheduled to visit Cyprus on the plea of their involvement in the Assembly elections in some of the Indian states. Instead, finance minister Manmohan Singh will represent India at the meeting.
India had mentioned the possibility of Kashmir talks with the “elected government” in Pakistan as a way out of the mounting international pressure for a solution of the Kashmir problem. Observers felt that India’s reference to an elected government in Pakistan was aimed at delaying talks with Pakistan because India has nothing to offer by way of a summit, the Indian government authorities have shown that they are not interested in any talks on the Kashmir question whether bilateral or any other forum. If anything, India wants low level talks to impress the world that something is being done on the Kashmir question so that this subject is not taken up by the United Nations.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 22, 1993
