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Pakistan's unifocal approach derailed summit, says Jaswant

Tara Shankar Sahay in Agra

External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh asserted on Tuesday that the collapse of the Vajpayee-Musharraf talks was because of three reasons, including Pakistan's attempt to hold other bilateral issues hostage to its insistence that Jammu & Kashmir take precedence over everything else.

Addressing a crowded press conference at the media venue in Agra, Singh pointed out that Pakistan's "unifocal approach" was that Jammu & Kashmir be discussed first and other issues could follow.

"Bilateral issues between India and Pakistan cannot be held hostage to a single issue," he emphasized.

Referring to the second reason, Singh, who is also the defence minister, pointed out that "[Pakistan-inspired] cross-border terrorism and violence are not acceptable to us".

He indicated that India's efforts to persuade Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to make some kind of commitment in this regard went unheeded.

The third reason he cited was that Pakistan sought to ignore India's earlier efforts for peaceful bilateral relations, particularly the Lahore Declaration and the Simla Agreement. But New Delhi made it clear that these could not be "rescinded or wished away".

Referring to the Pakistani claim that their request to allow General Musharraf to have a press conference after saying goodbye to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the Jaypee Palace Hotel on Monday night was disallowed, Singh pointed out that "the question simply did not arise".

He pointed out that for a VVIP like General Musharraf, it was not possible to hold a press conference at short notice because of security considerations. At least 90 minutes would have been required to arrange for the conference, and the president did not have that much time before departure.

The minister took serious exception to the fact that external affairs spokeswoman Nirupama Rao was jostled and heckled by some Pakistani journalists on Monday night after she had read a one-line statement on the outcome of the summit.

The Pakistanis wanted to know from her why the Indian government was "not allowing our president" to hold a press conference.

He turned to Rao, who sat next to him at the press conference, and apologised, saying he was responsible for the welfare of his staff.

Asked whether Prime Minister Vajpayee would go to Islamabad at President Musharraf's invitation, Singh said the former had already accepted it. "I am not disheartened" by a single irritant that might be a hurdle in the overall Indo-Pak relations, he said.

Asked to spell out exactly at which juncture the Indo-Pak dialogue broke down, he said, "I am not going to engage in a game of who backed out from what."

He pointed out that the Indian side had sought to pick up the threads from earlier agreements, but the whole exercise proved futile because of Pakistan's obstinacy on not budging from its stand on Kashmir.

Asked to specify whether India and Pakistan narrowly missed out giving their stamp of approval of the proposed Agra Declaration, Singh remarked, "I don't want to say how close we were or how far we were."

He asserted that India would continue to strive for peaceful and friendly bilateral relations with Pakistan "until we achieve our destination".

The text of Jaswant Singh's statement

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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