Prime Minister I K Gujral yesterday said he would be happy to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif during his visit to New York this month but rejected any mediation by the United States in resolving the outstanding issues between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Winding up the debate in the Lok Sabha, he said Washington had accepted Indias position, and asserted: Our security, unity and integrity is not open to negotiations. He said he had accepted Washingtons invitation only after an assurance that Indo-Pak issues would not be on the agenda.
If an opportunity comes my way in New York, I will be happy to meet him (Sharif), he said, setting at rest conflicting reports about the meeting.
In a 45-minute speech marked by an academic perspective of the countrys history, ethics and the Indian world-view, Gujral dwelt on various issues including the need to make available the latest technology and weaponry to the defence forces. He said the government should learn lessons from history, and ensure that the defence forces are not hampered by popor technology and weaponry.
Responding to a host of domestic issues, Gujral said in order to bring about transparency in government functioning, the right to information bill based on the report of the working group headed by social activist H D Shourie would be introduced in the winter session of Parliament.
The revised Lok Pal bill based on the recommendations of the committee headed by Som Pal would also placed in the next session, he said. He announced that the goverenment would come forward with electoral reforms bill at an all-party meeting in a bid to evolve a consensus on it. . Gujral rebutted the charge of leader of the opposition Atal Behari Vajpayee that the Prime Ministers Office was sitting over requests by investigating agencies for sanction to prosecute politicians and officials in various cases.
He said the CBI had been given strict instructions to clear the pending cases for sanction of prosecution by central ministries within 15 days.
Sanction for fresh CBI cases relating to corruption by public servants would be disposed of within 30 days, he declared. Responding to Vajpayee, he said the number of pending CBI cases in central ministries had come down from 141 to 79.
He also announced that the government would review and streamline the vigilance system for disposal of cases of corruption within a time-frame. A seminar of chiefs of state and public sector vigilance bodies was planned for September 4 and 5 to be followed by a conference of chief ministers, he said.
