Jaswant rules out meeting with Sattar in New York

By Atul Aneja

NEW DELHI, NOV. 3. Ending all speculation about the revival of the Indo-Pakistan political contacts on the sidelines of the coming United Nations General Assembly session, the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, today ruled out the possibility of a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart, Mr. Abdul Sattar, in New York.

Alluding to an earlier statement by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, Mr. Singh said that ``if I have to meet Mr. Sattar I can meet him here or in Islamabad. For that I do not have to go all the way to New York.'' He made these observations after the conclusion of a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security.

The Prime Minister had expressed similar sentiments a few days ago on the possibility of his meeting his Pakistani counterpart, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in New York. He reiterated this during his address at the BJP national executive meeting at Amritsar on Friday.

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