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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is arriving in New Delhi at 1530 hours from Mumbai on Tuesday, but will start working from Thursday, a top government official said on Monday.
The official said, "Yes, the prime minister is flying down from Mumbai, but the doctors have advised him rest till Wednesday. Therefore, he is likely to take up official work only from Thursday onwards."
Vajpayee, who underwent surgery for a right-knee joint replacement at Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital, has made satisfactory progress. He has begun taking a few steps in the hospital corridor following which the doctors attending him cleared his return to New Delhi.
"It is not as if the prime minister is unaware regarding the preparations being made for his historic meeting with the Pakistan military ruler General Pervez Musharaf. Since the general is arriving in Delhi in about three weeks' time from now, the prime minister is being apprised of all the important developments," the official pointed out.
External affairs and defence minister Jaswant Singh met Vajpayee recently at the hospital. Although Singh's visit was described by government officials as a "courtesy call," he informed the Prime Minister about the latest statements emanating from Islamabad, the official added.
Pakistan has consistently asserted that the Kashmir issue cannot be solved without considering the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. India maintains that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.
But after the announcement of the Musharraf-Vajpayee summit, there is now an effort by both sides to tone down 'hawkish' behaviour and seek some common meeting ground.
Islamabad recently said that it would not like to react to the Ministry of External Affair's reiteration of Kashmir being an integral part of India.
According to the official, Vajpayee has instructed the Prime Minister's Office to discourage any unauthorised official statement on Kashmir, saying only the external affairs minister is competent to talk about the violence-marred state.
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