India-Pakistan Summit Opens Today

03/04/2001| IslamWeb

AGRA (Islamweb & Agencies) - The leaders of India and Pakistan meet on Sunday in the shadow of the subcontinent's most famous monument hoping to find a way out of more than a half century of enmity between the two populous nations.While India wanted to discuss many issues in the talks, which have no formal agenda, it was clear the disagreement over which country Kashmir should have joined in 1947 was the fundamental issue facing Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf.
``I believe both sides in principle agreed that this is one dispute that has to be settled,'' Pakistani Foreign Secretary Inamul Haq said on the eve of the first summit meeting between the countries in more than two years.
The meeting in a hotel near the Taj Mahal, the famed monument to love, was scheduled to last only Sunday. But Musharraf is not due to leave until Monday afternoon, leaving time for further talks.
Underling the bitter dispute over Kashmir, there was fresh violence inside the Indian-controlled part, where a armed Resistance has raged since 1989, and also shooting along the Line of Control that separates the forces of India and Pakistan in Kashmir.
Pakistan terms the violence inside Indian-held Kashmir an indigenous rebellion to which it gives only moral support. India accuses Pakistan of aiding those fighting to end Indian control.
Musharraf, to the annoyance of India, demonstrated his country's traditional position, which has UN backing, that the future of Kashmir should be decided by a referendum among Kashmiris, meeting separatist leaders at the Pakistani embassy in New Delhi on Saturday.
HEAVY SECURITY AROUND AGRA
The heavy security in the streets of New Delhi was duplicated around Agra, 120 miles to the south. Vehicles heading to the city were stopped and searched while the actual venue of the talks -- the hotel used by Vajpayee -- was sealed off completely.
Police had said intelligence reports had warned of threats from terrorist and fundamentalist groups opposed to the first summit between the rivals in more than two years.
Musharraf is reviled by many in India, where he is seen as the architect of an undeclared but bloody war on the snow-capped peaks of Kashmir two years ago.
That conflict at Kargil almost erupted into the fourth war between the nations -- and the third triggered by differences over Kashmir.
Since both countries demonstrated their ability to build nuclear weapons three years ago, international concerns about conflict in an area holding a fifth of the world's population have deepened.
While the dispute over Kashmir will dominate, the two countries also have a long list of other issues ranging from nuclear safeguards to trade.
While Pakistan said it expected India to raise the range of topics, Musharraf pre-empted detailed discussion on subjects outside of Kashmir by bringing a small delegation that included only one minister, Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar.
The Agra summit will be only the fifth on either country's territory since 1972, but Pakistan Foreign Minister Inamul Haq was quoted by the United News of India as saying Vajpayee would almost certainly be invited to Pakistan following Musharraf's visit.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf (R) shakes hands with his Indian counterpart President Kocheril Raman Narayanan in New Delhi, July 14, 2001. India rolled out the red carpet for visiting Musharraf, and the army general quickly set about trying to win friends in his arch enemy's back yard. (Savita Kirloskar/Reuters)