Talking is vital

Sir, - Considering that Gen. Musharraf has to protect his self- declared Presidency and himself at home, and Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee is not without his own problems within and outside the NDA, the inconclusiveness of the Agra summit should not have come as a surprise to anybody. But the continuation of talks is obviously vital for peace.

Cross-border terrorism is daily costing us the lives of our soldiers and innocent civilians. But we cannot declare war and force Pakistan to its knees militarily or economically because of international pressures, our own lack of political firmness and the risk of stunting our development. We cannot even engage the terrorist in ``hot pursuit'' across the LoC for fear of Pakistan's finger on the nuclear button.

Hawks in India are arguing that we should not have entertained Gen. Musharraf as he is not an elected official, has done and said nothing about stopping cross-border terrorism, and moreover, is insisting that Kashmir should be addressed first of all.

But we have only two options - either to talk or not to talk. Is there any other sensible option but to talk? To talk about peace does not mean suing for peace, nor does it imply negotiating on matters that are not negotiable. In a situation when we have shot ourselves in the foot by going nuclear (Pokharan II), seriously blunting our conventional military superiority, we cannot afford to lose eyeball contact with the ruler of Pakistan, whether he is a self-appointed President or an elected Prime Minister. It is probable that the hawks in India are those who are far from the borders with Pakistan and have no near kin in the Defence Services.

Maj. Gen. (retd) S.G. Vombatkere,

Mysore

* * *

Sir, - It is now clear that the self-appointed President of Pakistan accepted the invitation of the Prime Minister not for finding ways for losing the hostility between the two countries, but with other objectives.

A policy of give and take is absolutely necessary for the success of any parley. But there was no ``giving'' at all on the part of Gen. Musharraf. He was just reiterating his known position of treating Kashmir as the root of all problems. He was so inflexible as not to concede cross-border terrorism as a problem in return for India's concession of viewing it as an issue to be resolved. If he was to be so rigid in his stand one wonders why he came to the summit at all, unless it was to promote his personal agenda of garnering political legitimacy in his country, gain popularity as the uncompromising champion of Kashmir for Pakistan and thus create a favourable atmosphere for him to face elections, if held. He has, undoubtedly, succeeded on all these counts.

K.A. Issac,

Thiruvananthapuram

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