Search the Internet          Tips

India, Pak inch towards an Agra declaration

George Iype and Tara Shankar Sahay in Agra

India and Pakistan inched forward towards an Agra declaration as the historic summit between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Pervez Musharraf got underway in the city of monuments on Sunday.

The two nations are likely to come out on Monday with a joint statement in which both of them will accommodate each other's views on the crucial issue of Kashmir, with New Delhi and Islamabad marginally whittling down their respective stand on it, a top official of the Prime Minister's Office told rediff.com

"The statement is expected to depart notably from their earlier rigid stand on Kashmir," he averred.

A marathon pre-lunch, one-to-one meeting that lasted for one-and-half hours between Vajpayee and Musharraf and more than three hours of delegation level talks dominated the summit's first day.

A brief joint statement that termed the Vajpayee-Musharraf private meeting as "cordial and frank" is seen as a curtain raiser to bigger things on Monday.

On the cards are a joint press conference by Vajpayee and Musharraf at noon and a series of agreements on a host of confidence-building measures.

"I think India is likely to concede that Kashmir is a disputed territory while Pakistan will acknowledge that cross-border activity (read terrorism) in the state needs to be reined in," the PMO official said.

"This new initiative does not hurt the two leaders politically and both, the prime minister as well as the president, are well aware of it," the official pointed out.

On Sunday, both India and Pakistan put on the negotiation table most of the bilateral and fundamental subjects that have divided the two nations for over half a century. Some of the crucial issues that came up for discussion included Kashmir, India's concerns over the import of terrorism from the Pakistani side and trade ties.

Vajpayee is also said to have taken up with President Musharraf the release of the Indian prisoners of war from Pakistani jails.

Home Minister L K Advani took up the issue of cross-border terrorism during the delegation level talks, in which both Vajpayee and Musharraf participated. The Pakistani officials maintained that India should show some fundamental commitment to the core issue of settling the Kashmir issue.

In between, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar held a one-to-one meeting for nearly two hours. They, the sources said, tried to work out a framework for a set of secretary-level bilateral talks that could follow the Agra summit.

At the end of the first day, nothing tangible emerged. But officials conceded that the Sunday talks were meant to chalk out the mechanisms of a set of composite agreements for step-by-step engagements between the two countries.

"The very fact that India and Pakistan have issued a joint statement on the first day indicates that the talks have been positive. India is certain that something concrete will emerge out of the summit on Monday," Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said.

The euphoric start to the summit also saw Musharraf inviting Vajpayee to Pakistan. The prime minister accepted the invitation.

While the modalities of Vajpayee's visit to Pakistan will be worked out later, the Indian prime minister and the Pakistani president agreed to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in the United States in September.

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report