POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Vajpayee-Musharraf Summit Promises Peace

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

AGRA, India, Jul 15 2001 (IPS) - Meeting in this historic, former seat of the Mughal empire on Sunday, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee began a process that may well hold the key to peace between the nuclear- armed South Asian rivals.

Officials on both sides described as “positive” the unstructured one-on-one meeting between Musharraf and Vajpayee, which lasted 90 minutes — well beyond the intended 15 to 30 minutes.

“I think the result is very positive,” India’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj told newspersons. She attributed the success of the meeting to the fact that it was “unstructured and did not carry the baggage of 50 years” of tense relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Musharraf was dressed casually in a white shirt and black slacks while Vajpayee looked comfortable in Indian traditional gear — white ‘dhoti’ and ‘kurta’ (loose collarless shirt) with a sleeveless jacket.

Pakistan government spokesman Anwar Mahmood said the fact that the meeting between the two leaders lasted for more than 90 minutes was “a very good sign”.

Much of the optimism was based on Vajpayee’s acceptance of an invitation from the general to visit Islamabad later this year, a move that indicated that there was a chance to carry forward a process of reconciliation between the two countries that were partitioned in 1947 on independence from British colonial rule.

The partition resulted in the deaths of millions of people who abandoned their homes to begin life anew in Islamic Pakistan or largely Hindu India, and left many families divided. But it left the status Muslim-majority territory of Kashmir, then ruled by a Hindu prince, unresolved.

Musharraf, who flew into the Indian capital of New Delhi 200 kms north of here on Saturday morning, spend time visiting the house in which he was born in the bustling old quarter of the city. His wife Begum Sheba, who accompanied him, was born in Lucknow, capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state and where Agra is located.

A joint statement, read out by India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nirupama Rao with the approval of the Pakistani delegation, described the pre-lunch session between Vajpayee and Musharraf as “very cordial, frank and constructive”, and said further meetings were likely Sunday evening and Monday morning.

“Talks will also be held between the two delegations at official and ministerial levels,” the brief statement said without giving details of what was on the agenda. Another joint statement or declaration was expected on Monday.

But Swaraj told reporters at the media centre in Agra that the delegation-level talks discussed the issue of prisoners of war — which provoked some street protests here — cross-border terrorism, bilateral trade and the nuclear issue. But because the talks were still inconclusive, she said she could give no details.

India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of arming and supporting jihadist militants on its side of the border in divided Kashmir and infiltrating the border to carry out terrorist activities in the disputed state. Pakistan has routinely denied those allegations and says the militant groups consist of Kashmiris fighting for independence .

The neighbours set off rivalling series of nuclear tests in May 1998, adding a new dimension to their long simmering tension over Kashmir. The two countries are not known to have built adequate command control systems and structures for their nuclear arsenals.

India also wants Pakistan to agree to and sign guarantees for a pipeline which will bring gasfrom Iran to India, traversing Pakistan territory. It also wants Pakistan to reciprocate to an Indian initiative which grants most favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan.

The Indian ministerial delegation includes Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, who also holds the defence portfolio, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran. Musharraf is accompanied only by his foreign minister, Abdus Sattar.

After an extended working lunch, Musharraf took time off after lunch to visit the Taj Mahal, the famous marble mausoleum built in the 17th century by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his favourite concubine Mumtaz Mahal.

Musharraf’s hotel suite was picked for the view of the monument and he was reported to have begun the one-on-one by remarking to Vajpayee that it was the most wonderful sight in the world.

Hope for the success of the summit brightened after Musharraf declared at a banquet, hosted Saturday in his honour by Indian President K.R. Narayanan at the Rashtrapati Bhavan (presidential palace) in New Delhi, that he was deeply committed to finding a path toward normal relations between the two countries.

“I would like the comunications to open, trade to flourish, mindsets to change and stereotypes to disappear&. The children of Pakistan and India must not be made to live under the constant shadow of conflict,” he said.

Musharraf noted that other parts of the world had gone ahead to reduce tension and take to the path of economic prosperity, social well-being and poverty alleviation. If the sub-continent was to follow suit,l there had to be “cooperation, mutual trust and peace.”

But the Pakistan president maintained that the dispute over Kashmir continued to hamper normalisation of relations between the two neighbouring countries. “We must be bold enough to face this issue squarely and resolve it once and for all,” he said.

Indian and Pakistan have fought several wars over Kashmir, the last of which, in the summer of 1999, was said to have been masterminded by Musharraf who, in October that year, took over as military ruler of Pakistan in a bloodless coup.

The 1999 undeclared war at Kargil on the Line of Control (LoC), which runs through divided Kashmir, resulted in India breaking off diplomatic dialogue with Pakistan and refusing to talk to a military dictator. Sunday’s meeting was the first high-level talks between the two countries.

But late May, Vajpayee sprang a surprise by inviting Musharraf for talks and it was promptly accepted by the general, who later had himself declared President, a move made to lend him greater legitimacy to any agreement that he concluded with New Delhi.

Sunday’s talks were highly symbolic also because Musharraf is the first Pakistani leader to visit India on a full-fledged state visit since the two countries were created in 1947.

POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Vajpayee-Musharraf Summit Promises Peace

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

AGRA, India, Jul 15 2001 (IPS) - Meeting in this historic, former seat of the Mughal empire on Sunday, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee began a process that may well hold the key to peace between the nuclear- armed South Asian rivals.
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