Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=7/17/2001

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-278325

TITLE=PAK/INDIA SUMMIT-REACTION (L-ONLY)

BYLINE= AYAZ GUL

DATELINE=ISLAMABAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A meeting of leaders of India and Pakistan in the Indian city of Agra has ended without an agreement. For most observers in Pakistan the outcome of the meeting between Pakistani leader General Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was not unexpected. But they are hoping the process of dialogue should continue to ease tensions between the two countries, who have fought three wars in their 54-years of confrontation over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. From Islamabad, Ayaz Gul reports.

TEXT: The two-day summit between Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf was the first top-level meeting in two-years for India and Pakistan and had raised hopes of easing tensions between them. But the leaders could not reach an agreement on a joint declaration over the disputed Kashmir region.

Mushahid Hussain is a Foreign policy expert. He says the two sides have just not agreed upon a document because there are very serious problems between them, but he says he would not call the Agra summit a complete failure.

/// HUSSAIN ACT ///

I would say it is a set back, but not quite a disaster because it seems that both sides have agreed that they will continue the dialogue - and above all, I would say that the invitation to Vajpayee from General Musharraf still stands as stated (Tuesday) by (Indian Foreign Minister) Jaswant Singh. So in that respect, I would say that the process has not been reversed, but it stands where it began before Agra.

/// END ACT ///

During the summit, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee accepted an invitation to visit Pakistan.

Shireen Mazari is the head of state-sponsored Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad. She says the main gain from the Agra Summit is that the two leaders have met at all.

/// MAZARI ACT ///

I think we have moved beyond the pre-summit zero-sum deadlock position and therefore, it is not a failure at all. It is a little move forward and it is better to inch forward gradually and substantively than to pretend that you have suddenly made these miraculous gains, which really are not gains and which do not stand the test of time.

/// END ACT ///

Observes had warned that the lack of a breakthrough at the Agra summit could lead to an escalation of tensions, particularly in the Kashmir region.

Analyst Mushahid Hussain says he hopes pressures from countries such the United States will encourage India and Pakistan to remain engaged in a peace dialogue.

/// HUSSAIN ACT ///

We could expect more of a growing war of words, the continuation of the Kashmir insurgency, which has been going on for the last 12-years, but the both sides will be under a lot of international pressure now to have the dialogue continued, because the international community, knowing the fact that Pakistan and India are nuclear weapons states, will not allow either of them to escalate or to raise the temperatures.

/// END ACT ///

Pakistan and India tested nuclear devices in 1998, raising international concerns that a future war between the two may lead to the use of nuclear weapons. The international community led by the United States has been urging the two nations to begin peace talks to ease tensions. (SIGNED)

NEB/AG/RAE