PM lowers the heat, says we build on Agra

Is tough on terrorism, soft on dialogue

ARATI R JERATH

NEW DELHI, JULY 24: DAYS after the Ministry of External Affairs repudiated whatever was discussed at Agra, the Government today softened its tone and acknowledged the summit as the starting point in future Indo-Pak talks. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told Parliament that he and General Musharraf had achieved a ‘‘degree of understanding’’ at Agra. ‘‘We will build on this to further increase the areas of agreement,’’ he said.

Last week, the MEA had rejected the Agra talks as the benchmark for a dialogue with Pakistan. Instead, it harked back to the Shimla and Lahore Agreements as the only reference points saying that any future talks would have to begin again.

The softening of the Government’s hawkish postures of the past few days came as US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca wound up her visit to India this evening. She made the US approval of the Agra process clear in a conversation with journalists, saying, ‘‘We would like to support a senior level continued dialogue (between India and Pakistan) which leads to a process.’’

Her remark is significant in the context of the near agreement at Agra to upgrade the Indo-Pak dialogue to a political level. This was acknowledged by Vajpayee too when he admitted in Parliament that the draft joint document discussed in Agra ‘‘sought to incorporate the structure of a future dialogue process on all issues, including meetings at official, ministerial and Summit levels’’.

He listed the issues that were identified for future talks as peace and security including nuclear and conventional CBMs, Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism. ‘‘Despite the obvious differences in our perspectives, we made progress towards bridging the two approaches in a draft joint document,’’ he revealed. The soft noises were balanced with strong criticism of continued Pakistani support to cross border terrorism in J&K. ‘‘We cannot ignore the fact of terrorism and violence in the State, which is exported from across the borders. We cannot accept that the insurgency in J&K today is anything but terrorism,’’ he declared.

Referring to the recent killings in Amarnath and elsewhere, Vajpayee reiterated that Pakistan’s refusal to end cross-border terrorism is the ‘‘main hurdle’’ in the creation of a conducive atmosphere. ‘‘We had to abandon the quest for a joint document mainly because of Pakistan’s insistence on the settlement of the J & K issue as a precondition for the normalisation of relations,’’ he pointed out. ‘‘Pakistan was also reluctant to acknowledge and address crossborder terrorism.’’

Vajpayee also indicated that he was open to the possibility of visiting Islamabad. He said that both he and Jaswant Singh had accepted inviations from the Pakistani Government. ‘‘Thus our bilateral engagement with PAkistan will continue. We will continue to seek dialogue and reconciliation,’’ he said.

He countered the persistent demands from Pakistan and the US to consider the ‘‘wishes of the Kashmiri people’’ in the resolution of the J & K issue by pointing out that the Kashmiris have their elected representatives through whom they express their legitimate aspirations.

He also indicated that the Pant dialogue was another process to ascertain the views of the people of J & K. ‘‘We are willing to listen to all other streams of Kashmiri opinion, as long as they abjure violence. It is in this spirit that we had offered to talk to the representatives of the All Parties’ Hurriyat Conference,’’ he said.

In an obvious attempt to rebuff continuing criticism over Pakistan’s media advantage, Vajpayee insisted that his Government was not seeking to score debating points. ‘‘We will engage in quiet, serious diplomacy,’’ he said as he wound up his speech.