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Pakistanis view Agra summit with cautious optimism

The forthcoming summit meeting between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is being viewed by average Pakistanis with cautious optimism.

Students and teachers of a school in Islamabad, currently in India at the invitation of Suchchi-Muchchi, a children's magazine, hope the Agra summit would pave the way for strengthening of ties between the two countries.

But the general feeling at home is one of cautious optimism, as the last few attempts to resolve long-pending disputes between the two countries did not bear fruit, a teacher of Khaldunia School, preferring anonymity, said.

The Agra summit has revived hopes and given a golden opportunity to Musharraf to initiate the peace process, he said.

Students said the grim economic scenario in Pakistan forced Musharraf to come to the negotiating table.

Enormous defence expenditure, brain drain and flight of capital from the country forced the president to open his eyes to reality, one of the students said.

Students from Pakistan, along with their Indian peers, passed a resolution calling on both countries to reduce defence expenditure and end nuclear stockpiling.

An international school be established for students of both countries for promoting peace and harmony, the resolution said, and hoped that the Agra talks would yield results and lead to peace in the subcontinent.

PTI

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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