India: No Meeting with Pakistan Leader at NAM Summit

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 19, 2003

India: No Meeting with Pakistan Leader at NAM Summit

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India on Tuesday ruled out any meeting between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf during the upcoming summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Kuala Lumpur.

Asked about the possibility of a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders during the two-day summit beginning next Monday, Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal made it clear that "they arenot going to meet."

He asserted at a press conference here that New Delhi would counter any attempt by Islamabad to toss "red herrings" to justifyterrorism in India-controlled Kashmir.

While there was a large consensus in the international community on combating terrorism, Sibal claimed, there were some countries which "tend to send red herrings by speaking about its root causes, which are described as justifying terrorism."

Asserting that terrorism could not be justified on any ground, he said those seeking moral justification citing "root causes" like territorial conflicts, religious fundamentalism and poverty were on the totally wrong track.

India would not be unduly perturbed if Musharraf raked up the Kashmir issue at the summit, he said, adding that "we are not worried about it. They have been doing it in the past at the UN and other fora."

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