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Vajpayee, Musharraf hope peace process will continue

By Amit Baruah and B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD JAN. 5. In an ice-breaking meeting, the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, today met the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, for about an hour at the Aiwan-e-Sadar, or the presidential palace, here.

Briefing the media after the much-anticipated meeting, the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, said: "Both leaders welcomed the recent steps towards normalisation of relations between the two countries and expressed the hope that the process will continue."

After some confusion caused by the remarks of the Pakistan Information Minister, Sheikh Rasheed, the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Masood Khan, distanced himself from the statements and echoed the sentiments expressed by Mr. Sinha. "The two leaders discussed the positive impact of the recent confidence-building measures and hoped that their momentum would be maintained," Mr. Khan said. He, like Mr. Sinha, did not give any details.

Apart from Mr. Sinha, the National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, and the Foreign Secretary, Shashank, were present while the Pakistan Foreign and Finance Ministers, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri and Shaukat Aziz, the Foreign Secretary, Riaz Khokhar, and Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Aziz Ahmed Khan, attended the meeting.

While Pakistan is said to have raised the issue of resuming the composite bilateral dialogue, the Indian side reportedly spoke of cross-border terrorism. India specifically referred to the latest terrorist attack in Jammu and pointed out that one of the extremists killed was allegedly a Pakistani national.

Before going in for the meeting, Mr. Vajpayee said he hoped that the talks between India and Pakistan would take place continuously and progress could be made with the two countries understanding each other's difficulties.

Speaking at a brief ceremony to the lay the foundation of a High Commission residential complex, Mr. Vajpayee hoped that the new building would be able to face the "storms and rain" in inclement weather. He hoped that the Indian diplomats would work in a responsible manner to ensure that bilateral relations improved.

Earlier, Mr. Shashank and Mr. Khokhar met separately.

When it was pointed out to Mr. Sinha that the people of India and Pakistan expected a little more than his brief statement, he said that anyone who said anything more at this stage was not doing any service to the [peace] cause. Asked whether Mr. Mishra, had met the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate chief, Lt. Gen. Ehsan-ul-Haq, he said: "I don't think that is necessary."

(Asked at a separate briefing about the same "meeting," the Pakistani spokesman said: "I have no information on that.")

Mr. Sinha emphasised that the very fact that Mr. Vajpayee had come to Pakistan and met his counterpart, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, and Gen. Musharraf, meant that "progress" had been made. "Please look at it like that."

Asked whether cross-border terrorism figured in the Vajpayee-Musharraf talks, Mr. Sinha said, "Please don't ask for details." Would India and Pakistan put in place more confidence-building measures? "I don't think the possibility of more CBMs has been exhausted at this point."

Speaking separately, Mr. Masood Khan said the meetings were not just an event but a process. "And, we have to invest in a process. This is just the beginning."

By not giving details and talking in terms of a process, both countries have brought down the heightened expectations of a major breakthrough in the relationship in the immediate context. Delays in press briefings from both sides led to considerable speculation throughout the day.

Pakistan, however, continues to hope that these meetings, significant in themselves, would lead to the resumption of a composite dialogue between the two countries, including on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

"That [the resumption of dialogue] remains Pakistan's hope," Mr. Khan said. The Musharraf-Vajpayee and the Jamali-Vajpayee meetings were the first since the failed summit in Agra in July 2001 and, hence, significant.

Mr. Khan said the resumption of dialogue — whether at the level of Foreign Secretaries or Foreign Ministers — had not yet been decided.

Asked why India and Pakistan were not revealing what had transpired, Mr. Khan said the meetings were crucial and could not be termed a non-event. To a question whether there was scope for arriving at nuclear CBMs, he said: "Not in the immediate context. This is a long-term goal." Reiterating a previous Pakistani proposal, he said India and Pakistan must come up with a strategic restraint regime.

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