Author:
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 17, 2002
Pakistan today used strong language
to criticise Defence Minister George Fernandes's statement after the Jammu
attack:
* Terming India's charge of its
involvement as "baseless", its Foreign Office said such allegations were
aimed at deflecting the Muslim world's attention from communal violence
in Gujarat as well as "domestic difficulties"
* The statement took particular
exception to Fernandes's "Insinuation" against Musharraf. The General could
also have accused Vajpayee and his Cabinet colleagues of "training fascist
Hindu terrorists to kill and rape members of minority communities in India,"
said the statement.
* Musharraf desisted from doing
so, according to the statement, in the interest of "maintaining some dignity
in the discourse between the two countries'.
* Meanwhile, in the largest one-off
credit in its history, the World Bank will lend Pakistan 500 million dollars
for economic reform and poverty alleviation. The structural adjustment
credit will be approved in June.
