The Hindu : National : Slow and steady progress in peace process desirable: Vajpayee

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 31, 2005

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Slow and steady progress in peace process desirable: Vajpayee

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 30. The former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, feels that a ``slow and steady improvement'' in India-Pakistan relations is more desirable than dramatic steps that could lead to a setback even as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L.K. Advani, has expressed satisfaction over the pace of the ongoing peace dialogue between India and Pakistan and said that, ``there is no option to peace, cooperation and normal relations'' between the two countries.

At separate meetings with the visiting leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and former Pakistan Prime Minister, Shujaat Hussain, the two senior BJP leaders made these observations during discussions on the current peace process between the two countries and how best it could go forward.

Mr. Hussain had called on the two leaders at their residences along with a delegation comprising the general secretary of the PML(Q), Mushahid Hussain, the Leader of the House in Pakistan's Senate, Wasim Sajjad, Pakistan High Commissioner here, Aziz Ahmed Khan, and several members of the Pakistan National Assembly. At the meeting at Mr. Vajpayee's residence, the former External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, the former principal secretary to the Prime Minister, Brajesh Mishra, and officials from the Ministry of External Affairs were present.

``Zamana badal gaya hai (times have changed),'' Mr. Advani is reported to have said, pointing out that some decades earlier not many would have thought that there could be a united Europe. However, the problem between India and Pakistan went back several decades and there was ``no scope for quick solutions.'' At the same time he believed that ``patience, perseverance and determination on both sides'' could bear fruitful results.

The BJP later stated that Mr. Advani told the delegation led by Mr. Hussain that it was he who had urged Mr. Vajpayee to invite the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, to India to re-start the dialogue process that had stalled after the Kargil War. The reference was to India's invitation for the Agra Summit.

Mr. Advani apparently said this when the Pakistani delegation mentioned that the Vajpayee Government must be given the credit for initiating the dialogue process, which was now being taken forward by the Congress-led Manmohan Singh Government.

Mr. Advani is said to have emphasised the importance of Pakistan taking effective steps to dismantle the cross-border terrorism infrastructure while recalling the joint statement in Islamabad in January last year during the Vajpayee visit to Pakistan that specifically mentions this. He said that statement marked the "real breakthrough'' in the peace dialogue between the two countries.

The Congress today hosted a reception for the PML(Q) delegation as part of its effort to build linkages with the political parties of other countries.

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