PM wants to give peace another chance: Mahajan

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 31. For the first time today, the entire Union Cabinet heard from the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, the rationale behind the invitation to the Pakistan's Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf. Mr. Vajpayee is understood to have explained that the invitation - as well as the calling off of the ``ceasefire'' in Jammu and Kashmir - was part of a larger search for peace in the region, and should be seen as a continuation of the ``Lahore process.''

There was, however, no discussion in the Cabinet on the subject. The Prime Minister was heard respectfully. The Cabinet seemed reconciled to the fait accompli of what has been seen as a volte face. It was the Cabinet Committee on Security that had decided on May 23 to call off the ``ceasefire'' in Jammu and Kashmir and invite the Pakistani ruler to come to New Delhi for talks.

Briefing newspersons after the Cabinet meeting, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, said the Prime Minister wanted to give ``another chance'' to his peace initiative. According to Mr. Mahajan, Mr. Vajpayee told his Cabinet colleagues that while India was naturally in favour of engaging a democratic set-up in Pakistan, it could not realistically ignore the presence of a military regime there. In the past, too, India had dealt with military regimes.

On the decision to call off the ``ceasefire,'' the Prime Minister told the Cabinet that the unilateral restraint the security forces had undertaken (as part of the Ramadan initiative) was not being reciprocated by the militant groups, and, in fact, the number of civilians killed had gone up.

One of the crucial inputs in the May 23 decision was the perceptions and impressions gathered by the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, and the acting Defence Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, when they visited Srinagar on May 19.

According to Mr. Mahajan, since the Prime Minister would be having his knee operated upon on June 7 and would require at least three weeks thereafter to recover fully, the proposed Vajpayee-Musharraf summit should be taking place in the middle of July. General Musharraf has suggested four dates - June 20, June 25, end of June or early July - for the summit. As per Mr. Mahajan's announcement, the monsoon session of Parliament could begin on July 23. That means the summit should take place some time in the second/third week of July.

Before the Cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister presided over another high-level meeting that decided in principle to extend the ceasefire in Nagaland for one year. The formulation is that the ceasefire would extend to the Nagas living in entire northeast, without in any way constituting a commitment to the concept of ``Greater Nagaland'' being demanded by the dominant rebel group, the NSCN(I-M), headed by Mr. T. Muivah.

The meeting was attended by Mr. Advani, the Army Chief, the Home Secretary, the Director of Intelligence Bureau, Secretary (R), and Mr. K. Padmanabhaiah, Prime Minister's envoy for the northeast.

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