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Premadasa, Sharif, Gayoom may come Dec 12

By Toufique imrose Khahdi
In a repetition of history that Colombo, the host to the Sixth SAARC Summit, wit nessed, President Ranaslnghe Premadasa of Shri Lanka and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan and President Mamoun Abdul Gayoom may come to Dhaka December 12.
Highly-placed diplomatic sources indicated yesterday that the three leaders' trips were being planned on a bilateral plane in the backdrop of the postponement of the Seventh Summit scheduled for December 12-13.
Last year, after the scheduled Sixth Summit of the seven-nation forum was put off,
three leaders responded to the request of the host President to visit his country on bilateral invitations.
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. Prime Minister Nawaz Sahrlf and Prime Minister Olrija Prasad Koirala travelled to Colombo to honour the host head of state's wish that they come and make use of the arrangements he made for the summit.
Shri Lanka later held a one-day summit, on December 21, after hosting those bilateral visits earlier in the month when the summit was originally scheduled.
The Bhutanese monarch's
inability to attend the initially planned meeting had led to the postponement, much to the displeasure of the Shri Lankan government.
On the regional plane, the 1991 event was widely interpreted by critics as a ploy by India, using Bhutan as a pawn, partly to ensure Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s stay at home to campaign for his crucial by election and partly to embarrass Shri Lanka.
President Premadasa is particularly unpopular with the Congress (I) government for his strong opposition to the Indo-Lanka accord on New Delhi's involvement in the
Colombo's fight against the Tamil rebels.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however. did not say whether formal invitations from Bangladesh Prime Minister to the leaders for bilateral trips had already been sent or not
The officials of the Press Information Department (PID) are taking preparations and have asked the newspaper authorities to name reporters to cover a visit of a head of state who will be arriving December 12. without naming who the leader is
However, Foreign Secretary Rear Rahman, who briefed the
his regular briefing as the Summit spokesman, did not mention or Indicate any such probability
The sources said that Premadasa s visit was almost certain but described Sharif and Gayoom's coming as just a possibility
They said that the Shri Lankan President’s trip would be dubbed a visit In his capac Ity as the current Chairman of the SAARC.
According to a source, Premadasa is expected to come with a large delegation that he planned for the sum-
mit.
However, no official confirmation of the visits was available until late last night.
An AFP report from Islamabad adds: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will go ahead with his scheduled visit to Bangladesh despite postponement of a South Aslan Summit at weekend, the Foreign Ministry here said Wednesday.
Sharif is to leave for Dhaka Saturday for a two-day visit.
Shri Lankan President Ranaslnghe Premadasa and Maldives President Mamoun Abdul Gayyum would also be in Dhaka enabling summit-level discussions over the mosque controversy, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
He said Sharif would have consultations with Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on the situation created by the Babri Mosque demolition, which sparked violent reaction in Bangladesh and Pakistan
Sharif decided to proceed with his visit to Dhaka to show "solidarity with Bangladesh and to manifest continued support for SAARC objectives," the spokesman said.