The Hindu : International / India & World : Advani meets Pakistan Opposition leaders

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Thursday, Jun 02, 2005

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International - India & World

Advani meets Pakistan Opposition leaders

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Agreement over taking peace process to logical conclusion

"The credit for the peace process must really go to the awaam [people] of the two countries"

ISLAMABAD: Continuing his political dialogue with the Pakistan leadership to give a fillip to the India-Pakistan peace process, Bharatiya Janata Party L.K. Advani on Wednesday evening called on the Leader of the Opposition and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) veteran Maulana Fazlur Rehman here.

In their interaction at the Parliament House, the leaders agreed that the peace process should be taken to its logical conclusion and that the goodwill it generated should be utilised for resolution of all outstanding issues.

The MMA, a conglomerate of six religious parties, has supported the peace process but with reservations about how it was being carried out by President Pervez Musharraf. They have been vocal about the "deviation" from Pakistan's traditional stance on Kashmir.

Mr. Rehman, leader of a faction of the Jamaat-e-Ulema Islamia (JUI), is considered the "father" of the Taliban. A number of well-known Taliban cadres are products of his seminary in the Frontier. However, he has been a vocal advocate of India-Pakistan rapprochement and was one of the prominent Opposition leaders who visited India last year.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), headed by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the largest MMA component has been a bitter critic of Gen. Musharraf's India policy. He has just recovered, after heart surgery, and addressed a large gathering in the national capital last Friday in protest against the alleged desecration of the Quran by U.S. soldiers.

It is not immediately clear whether there was any effort on the part of ether Mr. Hussain or Mr. Advani for a meeting. The interaction with Mr. Rehman materialised in the last minute.

Later the BJP president said he deemed it necessary to call on his Pakistani counterpart to exchange views on a number of subjects. Such interaction was useful in carrying forward the rapprochement process initiated by the former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Immediately after the meeting, Mr. Advani received a delegation of senior leaders from the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) led by the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.

The party has its own list of grievances against Gen. Musharraf and his "exclusivist" politics. The reference is to the repeated assertion by Gen. Musharraf that Ms. Bhutto has no role in the nationalpolitics.

Earlier in the day Mr. Advani was given a warm welcome at the National Assembly, where he had a meeting with Speaker Chaudhary Amir Hussain.

"You are one of the veteran leaders of Indian Parliament and we welcome you to our National Assembly. The breakthrough in our bilateral relations came when Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to attend the SAARC Summit in Islamabad early last year. Thereafter came all the Confidence Building Measures [CBMs[. However, all of us here know your support to the peace process when you were in government, and also now. Therefore, the credit, both directly and indirectly, goes to you also," the Speaker told him.

Mr. Advani thanked the Speaker and said: "The credit for the peace process must really go to the awaam [people] of the two countries. The two countries have lived with tension for too long. If the tension disappears, the possibilities of bilateral cooperation are immense."

Mr. Hussain said he made a memorable visit to India recently at the invitation of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. He said he had invited Mr. Chatterjee to visit Pakistan and requested Mr. Advani to convey his invitation personally to the Speaker. The BJP president suggested to his host that the time has come for the formation of a Friendship Association of Parliamentarians of India and Pakistan, on the lines of similar associations between the parliamentarians of India and other countries.

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