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Future Indo-Pak talks to be based on Shimla, Lahore pacts: Delhi 
Musharraf to maintain dialogue with India

India said on Wednesday that future peace negotiations with Pakistan would have to be based on existing agreements after the failure of this week's summit to draft a joint declaration. 
The talks in Agra between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf ended in deadlock on Monday as differences over the disputed state of Kashmir prevented the two sides agreeing on the wording of a declaration. 

"Various proposals were discussed but the parties did not reach a closure," foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao told a press briefing in New Delhi. 

"We will, therefore, have to begin again on the basis of the existing agreements that are the Shimla and Lahore declarations, which are the cornerstones of India and Pakistan bilateral relations." 

India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars since the partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947 -- two of them over Kashmir, the violence-torn Himalayan state divided between the countries and claimed by both. 

The two countries signed a peace accord in the town of Shimla in 1972, while Vajpayee made a landmark bus journey to the Pakistani town of Lahore to forge a peace accord in February 1999. 

The Shimla agreement said any dispute between the two countries, including Kashmir, should be resolved bilaterally. 

Rao said the despite the failure to sign a joint accord at the summit, nuclear-capable India and Pakistan would not give up efforts to forge bilateral peace. 

The sticking point that scuppered the declaration was Pakistan's insistence that the normalisation of ties be linked to progress on the future of Kashmir. 

India wants other issues to be discussed ahead of Kashmir, but Pakistan insists it is the core problem which must be tackled in tandem with other questions, such as nuclear safeguards and trade. 

Meanwhile, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is determined to keep up the peace process with India despite not making any substantial progress at the Agra summit, reports said yesterday. 

The general told the National Security Council (NSC) and cabinet in Islamabad on Wednesday that he would pursue more dialogue with Vajpayee to resolve the nuclear rivals' dispute over Kashmir. 

Both countries have denied a deadlock after the July 15-16 summit in the Taj Mahal town of Agra ended without a final declaration, saying the talks marked the beginning of a new dialogue process after a two-year freeze. 

"I am upset but still optimistic and determined to pursue the process of dialogue with India," The Nation daily quoted Musharraf as telling the NSC. 

"Though the summit could not produce a joint declaration, the nine-point draft will help provide a basis for future dialogue." 

Quoting official sources, Dawn said Musharraf had informed the meeting that his talks with Vajpayee went well and there was renewed understanding on both sides on many issues including the Himalayan region of Kashmir. 

Musharraf, who is due to address a press conference on Friday, said a formal invitation to Vajpayee to visit Pakistan would be issued shortly. 

Vajpayee has agreed to come to Pakistan later this year and the two leaders are also expected to meet in New York in September on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly.
(AFP, New Delhi)

source: The Daily Star International News, 20.07.2001