Indian envoys to be briefed

NEW DELHI: Indian ambassadors and heads of missions around the world have been called to the headquarters for a massive three-day brainstorming session starting here on Monday.

The conference to be inaugurated by foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee will be also addressed by prime minister Manmohan Singh.

“The idea is to have all missions speak in one voice. There must not be conflicting signals from various Indian embassies,” a senior official said.

The Mumbai terror attack will top the meeting agenda with diplomats given briefings on the diplomatic offensive New Delhi has launched to get the international community exert enough pressure on Pakistan to keep its commitment to India.

The government will also try to find out first hand from the envoys the thinking in their host countries on Pakistan and how seriously they have taken the Mumbai attack.

Ambassadors to countries close to Islamabad, such as China, and Islamic nations will also give feedback on the position of these governments. There will also be enquiries by the government under pressure from the travel and tourism industry to talk to European states and the US to withdraw advisories against travel to India after the Mumbai attack.

The advisories have dried up tourist inflow in the time of Christmas.  Incidentally, this conference was planned before the Mumbai carnage.