'Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting likely after August talks'
By Amjad Mahmood
LAHORE, May 9: A meeting between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Gen Pervez Musharraf is likely to be held after August this year after the first round of composite talks between senior officials of Islamabad and New Delhi
, Indian High Commissioner Shivshankar Menon was quoted as telling a select gathering of politicians and Lahore-based retired army generals on Sunday.
"(Indian) Prime Minister Vajpayee will decide whether another summit meeting is necessary after foreign ministers of the two states reach any conclusion in their talks to be held by August," two participants of the meeting quoted the Indian diplomat as saying.
Mr Menon's meeting with politicians and retired generals was coordinated by Col (retired) Ikramullah. It had been kept secret from media people "to allow an opportunity to the participants to speak their mind freely".
The objective of the meeting was to clarify India's point of view on the ongoing peace process to the people who "avoid to visit Indian high commission due to certain reasons". Mr Menon reportedly told the gathering that unlike in Pakistan all political parties in India were supporting the peace process.
Responding to questions, he said that although New Delhi was sincere in making lasting peace with Islamabad, no time-frame could be given to sort out all issues between the two states.
Admitting that Kashmir was also an issue on the agenda, he said: "Some disputes have to be frozen to be taken up at a later stage when relations between India and Pakistan are normalized."
Mr Menon did not agree with a suggestion that New Delhi's position in Kashmir was like France's in Algeria and that India would have to pull out of the valley for the sake of its own integrity.
He was told that New Delhi should take concrete steps like checking human rights violations in Kashmir, opening the valley to international media and observers to demonstrate its seriousness in solving the issue.
Those who attended the meeting included Millat Party chief Sardar Farooq Leghari, CM's political adviser Syed Mowahid Husain, PML-Q's Mehnaz Rafi, PPP's Haneef Ramay, PML-N's Sartaj Aziz, AQP's Mohammad Mahdi, Jamaat-i-Islami's Farid Piracha and Aslam Saleemi, JUP's Gen K. M. Azhar, and retired generals Naseer Akhtar and Nishat Ahmad.
