President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Friday asked his Pakistani counterpart Pervez Musharraf to place all the CBMs in an incubator or a goodwill basket and see the eggs nurture. ‘‘It is essential for India and Pakistan to place all their acts (CBMs) in one incubator or good basket and then watch the eggs nurture in this basket of goodwill and also see that no one kicks it over,’’ the President was quoted as saying by his spokesman S.M. Khan.‘‘We should harness or direct all our energy to nurture this goodwill and no third party should be allowed to enter and damage it,’’ Kalam said during a lunch hosted by him for Musharraf and his wife Sehba.Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and PM Manmohan Singh also attended the lunch.The President recalled his interaction with schoolchildren of Pakistan and said every student of Pakistan has a desire to live in a happy, healthy and a prosperous country and the similar desire was that ‘‘of the children of our country.’’The event could not have gone without a lecture from the teacher in Kalam who had placed a huge display screen linked to his computer through which he told Musharraf about his scheme of providing urban amenities in rural areas. —PTISonia accepts Gen inviteNEW DELHI: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Sunday accepted Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s invitation to visit Pakistan. The dates for the tour will be worked out through diplomatic channels, a MEA spokesman said.External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh was present during the 30-minute meeting. Pak Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said Sonia recalled the ‘‘great fondness and enthusiasm’’ with which her son Rahul and daughter Priyanka had been received in Pakistan last year. Sonia did not speak to reporters after her meeting with Musharraf. —PTIMusharraf gives Advani an album of school daysNEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition L K Advani told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday that ‘‘distrust’’ between India and Pakistan was hampering normalisation of relations between the two countries. On his part, the Pak President had a pleasant surprise for Advani. He presented the BJP leader with an album containing photographs from his school days till his last visit to Pakistan.Advani, who had studied in the same school as the Pakistan President, said they had a hearty discussion for ‘‘quite some time’’ about their alma mater. He said the President had come with a ‘‘precious gift’’ of a photo album containing pictures of his home, his school and the then principal. Advani said he would probably visit Pakistan in June.In the over 30-minute meeting, the issue of terrorists did come up for talks, said Advani. Musharraf noted that ‘‘mutual intransigence’’ was the reason for delay in resolving issues between both the countries. At this, Advani told Musharraf that ‘‘sometimes distrust worsened the problem. But he lauded the Pakistani President’s January 2004 statement in Islamabad during the Saarc summit that Pakistan territory would not be allowed to be used for anti-India terrorist activities. —PTI150 Sena activists court arrestNEW DELHI: Protesting President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to India, 150 Shiv Sena activists on Sunday courted arrest and burnt a Pakistani flag near Ferozeshah Kotla ground.The Sena activists, who threatened to disrupt the Indo-Pak match, tried to take out a march to the stadium, but were stopped by police 200 m away.‘‘No hand of friendship should be extended to Pakistan unless that country reciprocates our earlier gestures for peace by stopping terrorists from entering J-K,’’ said Sena’s Delhi chief Jai Bhagwan Goel.Calling Musharraf ‘‘the architect of Kargil’’, he said, ‘‘Be it Lahore or Agra, everytime we extended hand of friendship to Pakistan, we have been stabbed in our backs.’’He said India shouldn’t hold talks unless it stops sending terrorists to J-K, dismantles terror camps in PoK and hands over 20 most wanted criminals hiding in that country. —PTI
