India welcomes lifting of Emergency

"It is a welcome decision by the President (of Pakistan)," said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee welcomed Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's decision to lift the emergency in that country. "It is a welcome decision by the President (of Pakistan)", Mukherjee told reporters in Raipur.

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"But this is an internal matter of Pakistan and India's stand is not to comment on others' internal matters'," he said.

Replying to a question on marginalisation of ethnic Indians in Malaysia, he said the matter has been taken up with the Malysian government.

On Left parties' threat to withdraw support on Indo-US nuclear deal issue, Mukherjee said it is a "media creation". "I spoke to (CPI-M General Secretary) Prakash Karat on Saturday and he denied what had been published in the newspaper," he said.

India will negotiate with IAEA on India-specific safeguards agreement and that will be put before the UPA-Left committee on the deal, Mukherjee added.