Mr. Seiken Sugiura, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, to Visit Pakistan and India

May 28, 2002

Mr. Seiken Sugiura, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, will visit Pakistan and India from May 28 (Tue) to June 1 (Sat).
During his stay in Pakistan and India, Mr. Sugiura will have talks with the leadership of the two countries, tensions between which have been heightening. He will convey to them Japan's position that terrorism of any kind can never be justified, and urge Pakistan to strive further to effectively stop and prevent terrorist activities and India to make exhaustive diplomatic efforts in response to the appeal of the international community.
Since the terrorist attack on May 14 in an army cantonment in Kashmir, tensions between India and Pakistan have been rapidly mounting and there is a risk of their developing into military conflict. Deeply concerned about such situation, Japan and other members of the international community have been working upon India and Pakistan to defuse tensions.

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