However, the meeting concluded on a positive note with the Indian leader promising to visit Islamabad. Officials told Dawn that the visit would take place on Oct 3.
Both sides agreed to continue the hard work and carry forward the peace process.
Pakistani officials, who had participated in the talks, said President Musharraf had reminded Prime Minister Singh that while Islamabad was committed to the peace process, it could not abandon its principled stance on Kashmir.
The president also told the Indian side that Pakistan had already taken several measures for confidence building, but India had not reciprocated.
Earlier, in his speech at the UN General Assembly, President Musharraf had appealed to the international community to refocus attention on finding a quick end to the Palestinian and Kashmir disputes.
With attention currently focused on fresh global issues such as terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, “we should not, and we cannot, ignore the legacy of festering problems left by the past,” he said in the speech.
“Peace and justice must come to the peoples of Palestine as well as Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
He also said that UN resolutions aimed at ending the two disputes should not be disregarded. “We must not only be prepared to proclaim our principles; we must defend them and, above all, live up to them.”
Gen Musharraf’s reiteration of Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir is believed to have been prompted by Mr Singh’s address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday in which he said that India was a victim of terrorism.
“India has faced cross-border terrorism directed against its unity and territorial integrity. We shall never succumb to or compromise with terror, in Jammu and Kashmir or elsewhere,” Mr Singh said. “We must not yield any space to terrorism. We must firmly reject any notion that there is any cause that justifies it. No cause could ever justify the indiscriminate killing of innocent men, women and children.” Mr Singh had earlier blamed Islamabad for allowing ‘a flow of terror’ into India, which apparently blocked progress in the summit meeting. Pakistan reacted angrily to the Indian allegation. In his address to the General Assembly, President Musharraf reminded the Indians that UN resolutions on Kashmir still remained unimplemented. This was a surprise for the Indians who had noted with satisfaction that in his previous address to the General Assembly Gen Musharraf had not raised the Kashmir issue. So when Premier Singh, President Musharraf and their aides met at New York’s Palace Hotel for a marathon four-hour session, including a brief one-to-one meeting, tension was already building up. “I thought we had left all that behind,” Mr Singh said to the president soon after the meeting began, adding that he did not expect him to raise the Kashmir issue in his speech.
Later, Indian Foreign Secretary Shayam Saran told reporters that it was the alleged increase in cross-border terrorism that prevented India from accepting the Pakistani proposal for withdrawing troops from some areas in Kashmir.
After the talks the two delegations arrived in a conference room where more than 150 journalists, mostly from India and Pakistan, were waiting for them.
President Musharraf, however, recalled his delegation for further consultation, causing some journalists to speculate if this was a repeat of the failed Agra summit of 2001. But the Pakistani delegation soon returned and the two leaders followed.
A few minutes past midnight, President Musharraf read out a brief joint statement, saying that the two leaders had reviewed progress in their relations since they last met in New Delhi on April 18, 2005.
“The two leaders referred to their earlier statements of Jan 6, 2004, and April 18, 2005 and reiterated their pledge not to allow terrorism to impede the peace process. They reaffirmed their commitment to the decision taken at their meeting in New Delhi and agreed to expedite their implementation.
“They also welcomed the progress made within the framework of the composite dialogue, including promotion of trade and economic relations, people-to-people contacts and confidence-building measures. They also welcomed the recent release of prisoners on both sides and agreed to continue this process on a humanitarian basis. “They expressed their commitment to ensure a peaceful settlement of all pending issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, to the satisfaction of both sides. They agreed that possible options for a peacefully negotiated settlement should continue to be pursued in a sincere spirit and a purposeful manner.”
After reading out the statement, President Musharraf said that the Indian prime minister had accepted his invitation to visit Pakistan.
The two leaders then prepared to leave, but when journalists insisted that they had waited for five hours for a press conference, the president agreed to take questions.
Responding to the first question, Mr Singh urged the reporter to read the joint statement and prepared to leave. President Musharraf, who was obviously looking forward to a news conference, followed him, albeit hesitantly.
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