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Editors' meet makes Musharraf
a hero back home

K J M Varma in Islamabad

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday briefed his cabinet and the all-powerful National Security Council on the Agra summit, amidst reports that his popularity graph had soared after his plain talking with senior Indian editors.

The two policy-making bodies approved the stand taken by Musharraf at the Agra summit, officials said.

Musharraf would address a press conference on July 20 for which the Indian media would also be invited, they said.

He would also soon convene meetings with politicians, Islamic clerics, leaders of Pakistan-based Kashmiri oufits, Pakistani editors, students and women groups to brief them about the outcome of his India visit.

Media reports here said his popularity graph soared after the telecast of his meeting with senior Indian editors during which he bluntly stressed the centrality of Kashmir in bilateral relations between India and Pakistan.

Officials said he was all set to repeat the exercise of interacting with the groups and individuals he had met in the run-up to his talks with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

It is also evident from Monday's press conference by Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar that Musharraf considered the Agra summit "inconclusive" and not a failure and hoped to continue his talks with Vajpayee when the two meet in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

PTI

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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