UN visit rejected by India

India yesterday refused to receive an envoy from UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, on a mission to help lower regional tensions…

India yesterday refused to receive an envoy from UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, on a mission to help lower regional tensions after nuclear tests by India and Pakistan.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said India, which rejects outside mediation over its stormy ties with arch-rival Pakistan, would not meet a team headed by Mr Alvaro de Soto, the UN deputy secretary general for political affairs.

"They are not coming to India but they are going to Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They wanted to come but the purpose is more or less clear to us," the spokesman said. "They are talking about Indo-Pakistan matters and Kashmir. You know our stand."

India and Pakistan carried out rival nuclear tests last month, heralding a new recent low in their tortured 50-year relationship since the subcontinent's 1947 independence from British rule. Relations between the two countries have been blighted by a dispute over the divided Himalayan state of Kashmir.