M A I N   N E W S

Talks did not fail: Sattar

Islamabad, July 17
Pakistan said today that the talks with India at Agra had remained inconclusive but did not fail as the two sides had a meeting of mind and transformed the vision into words to achieve progress on the normalisation of bilateral relations.

“Both sides had come close to a mutually acceptable formulation to settle the contentious issues, but snags related to the relationship between the Kashmir question and the progress on the normalisation of relations came in between,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar told a press conference today.

“Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee agreed that the progress made at the Agra summit should be the foundation for further dialogue leading to a full agreement,” he said.

Mr Sattar said wide-ranging discussions on India-Pakistan relations, including the issue of Kashmir, were held and the two sides were trying to evolve a framework for a structured peace dialogue to take Jammu and Kashmir, terrorism and drug trafficking to the political level and other issues like Siachen, trade and mutual exchange programmes at the official level.

Asked about the “invisible hand” that scuttled the Agra declaration as described by the Pakistani spokesman, the minister said,” It is not possible to assess who was the invisible hand.”

Regarding the controversy generated by the return of the President without addressing the media at Agra, Mr Sattar said a request for holding a press conference at the end of the summit was made prior to General Musharraf’s departure from here. After the schedule departure plans went haywire due to delay by both sides in formulating an agreement, a request was made in the night for arranging the General’s interaction with the media. “But for reasons best known to India, the press conference was not arranged.

Mr Musharraf and Mr Vajpayee “affirmed commitment to addressing each other’s expressed concerns creating an environment conducive to establishment of peaceful, friendly and cooperative ties for the welfare of their peoples”, Mr Sattar said.

“Time did not prevent substantive discussions on any specific issue,” he said.

He said General Musharraf “welcomed the opportunity” to meet Hurriyat leaders and hoped India would give them travel documents to visit Pakistan “for consultations”.

“The two sides came very close to bringing the declaration close to adoption and approval,” he said, adding that yesterday, “it appeared we had succeeded in arriving at a mutually-acceptable formulation.”

“In fact, the two leaders succeeded in covering a broad area of common ground in the draft declaration that will provide a valuable foundation for the two leaders to reach full agreement at a future meeting,” the Pakistani Foreign Minister said. UNI