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Agra summit breaks down

George Iype and Sheela Bhatt in Agra

After prolonged discussions between President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the last three days, the Agra summit failed to come to any conclusion as both sides continued to stick to their stated positions on the vexatious Kashmir dispute.

India insisted that cross-border terrorism should be dealt with before the issue of Jammu & Kashmir could be discussed. Pakistan stuck to its demand that Kashmir be accepted as the core dispute between the countries.

General Musharraf had one last meeting with Vajpayee at the Jaypee Palace Hotel before leaving for Islamabad at about 2350 IST.

The official version was that the general had called on Vajpayee as a courtesy to take his leave, but the meeting extended for almost an hour, leading to speculation that both leaders were trying for a last-minute settlement. That, however, was not to be, and not even a joint statement emerged from the final meeting.

A glum-looking Musharraf emerged from the Jaypee Palace Hotel with his entire delegation and left in a 16-car cavalcade without uttering a word to the waiting reporters.

Pakistan Television, however, reported that the general would address a press conference at Islamabad airport on landing there at about 0100 IST [1230 Pakistan Time].

In a one-line statement later, external affairs ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said the government was disappointed that "although the commencement of a process and the beginning of a journey has taken place, the destination of an agreed joint statement has not been reached".

Earlier, there was lot of enthusiasm on Sunday evening after both parties had stated that the talks were proceeding in a constructive and cordial manner.

The first setback, however, came early on Monday when the Pakistani delegation issued a press release stating that Kashmir was the core issue and they wanted India to admit this.

This was later repeated forcefully by President Musharraf at a breakfast meeting with leading editors of Indian news media when he remarked that the two sides were not able to even agree on a single word to describe the situation in Kashmir -- 'issue' or 'dispute'.

But things started looking up a little again in the evening when General Musharraf cancelled his scheduled trip to Ajmer and decided to continue his meeting with Vajpayee.

Both sides, however, stuck to their positions until late at night. As a result, no joint declaration is now likely.

General Musharraf's information secretary Anwar Mehmood said the president was finally leaving India because he did not get a response on the draft declaration that was first agreed upon by the two sides at 1330 IST on Monday.

PTV reported that Musharraf's delegation was exasperated with the frequent changes being made by the Indians in the declaration that was once agreed upon.

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