ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee discussed bilateral issues including the contentious Kashmir dispute in a 65-minute meeting that according to diplomatic sources ended on a positive note here at the Aiwan-i-Sadr on Monday morning.
This was the first meeting between the two leaders after two and a half years. Sources privy to the meeting said the new-found flexibility on both sides marked the discussions that covered all issues of concern to both the countries.
"Everything was discussed and the meeting is likely to lead to an early resumption of structured high-level talks between the two countries," these sources added.
At the delegation-level talks President Pervez Musharraf was assisted by Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar and Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Mr Aziz Ahmed Khan.
Prime Minister Vajpayee's minister-in-waiting and Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and President's Chief of Staff Mr Hamid Javed were also present during the meeting. The Indian prime minister was aided by his National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, foreign secretary Shashank, and Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Shiv Shankar Menon.
The meeting followed talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries to which both referred to as merely a courtesy call. Soon after the talks were over, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said the two leaders discussed all issues, including Kashmir and terrorism. He also indicated that more meetings could be held.
However, he did not specify the timeframe or the level of such meetings.Earlier, in his address at the foundation-laying ceremony of the Indian High Commission's residential compound, Prime Minister Vajpayee said: "Pakistan and India should continue talking to each other to take the present process forward."
Meanwhile, it appears some behind-the-scene negotiations are on for working out a joint Pakistan-India statement on resumption of dialogue. According to informed sources, the statement could not be finalized on Monday due to some differences on its formulation.
SINHA: Speaking at a news briefing in the afternoon, Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said the meeting between President Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee went on for about an hour.
He made it clear the two leaders did not have a one-to-one meeting. Sinha insisted that the 65-minute delegation-level meeting was a courtesy call.
Sinha's statements indicated that resumption of bilateral talks had been given the green light from the highest level but the two sides did not want to make public the modus operandi.
In his opening statement, he said: "Both leaders welcomed recent steps taken towards normalization of relations between the two countries and expressed the hope that the process would continue."
He added: "The fact that the prime minister of India came to Islamabad for the Saarc summit, the fact that the prime minister of India has met the prime minister of Pakistan and the president of Pakistan, that I have met my counterpart and the foreign secretaries have met, is progress."
His short opening statement and calculated answers to pointed questions on the Monday morning meeting hinted that some understanding had been reached between the two sides not to divulge its contents to the media.
When pressed for details of the meeting and progress made on normalization of bilateral relations, he said: "We are dealing with a very sensitive issue, don't put words in my mouth."
Responding to a question, he maintained: "We are interested in the success of (a) certain process and if we are interested we have to act with responsibility," implying that sharing information at this point could jeopardize the peace process.
In reply to another related question, he said: "If anyone at this stage says anything more is not doing justice to the cause." Elaborating on the cause, he stated: "The cause is the furtherance of the process Prime Minister Vajpayee started on April 18."
When asked if Mr Brajesh Mishra, who arrived in the capital on Jan 1, had a meeting with DG Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Ehsan-ul Haq, he did not deny it. "I think it is not necessary to go into this," was his measured response.
When asked if more Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) could be expected in the coming days, he said: "I don't think the possibility of more CBMs can be excluded at the moment."
Asked if the two prime ministers have extended invitations for reciprocal visits, he said this matter did not figure in the meeting. At the outset, Sinha said Prime Minister Vajpayee thanked President Musharraf for the excellent arrangements made for him and his delegation and congratulated the president on a very successful conduct of the 12th Saarc Summit.
The Indian external affairs minister did not say a word about the Saarc leaders retreat. Later, when Dawn asked him if there was a possibility of a one-to-one meeting between the two leaders, he said: "If I could say it publicly, I could have said it."
Meanwhile, there was serious concern in the Indian camp about Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid's public pronouncements on the bilateral meeting. "He should not have said what he did," protested one Indian. "He spoke too soon," said another, visibly irked by the minister's comments on the deliberations of the meeting.
SPOKESMAN: In an equally measured and almost identical opening statement, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Mr Masood Khan maintained that Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting was a courtesy call.
"The two leaders discussed the positive impact of the recent confidence building measures and hoped that their momentum would be maintained," he said at a press briefing he held later in the day.
Replying to a question, he said: "We still hope the present dialogue that is underway will culminate in a composite dialogue." When he was asked if any mechanism for maintaining the momentum had been worked out between the two sides, he was evasive.
Asked if a joint statement or declaration between Pakistan and India was on the cards, the FO spokesman said he had no information about it. He termed Prime Minister Vajpayee's meeting with President Musharraf "very important" given that it was the first contact between the two leaders since the Agra summit in July 2001.
When asked if any nuclear CBMs between Pakistan and India were in the offing, he said not in the immediate future. However, he went on to add that the two countries must come up with a (nuclear) restraint regime.
He kept stressing that the first priority is to resume dialogue. When his attention was drawn to Sheikh Rashid's statement that Kashmir issue was raised by Pakistan and the issue of cross-border terrorism was brought up by India during the meeting, the spokesman declined to comment, saying: "I cannot go into this question."
On the information minister's statement about the possibility of more high-level meetings as a follow-up to Monday's meeting, he said: "I have absolutely no information about a future meeting."
He expressed the hope that the meeting between the two leaders on Monday would facilitate a dialogue ultimately leading to composite talks. He did not say anything about the Monday afternoon retreat of the seven Saarc leaders at the Prime Minister House other than that "it was over".
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