The Hindu : National : Shaukat Aziz begins historic visit today

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Tuesday, Nov 23, 2004

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Shaukat Aziz begins historic visit today

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI, NOV. 22. When Shaukat Aziz steps on to the tarmac at the Palam Air Force Station on Tuesday afternoon, it will be the first time a Pakistani Prime Minister would have set foot on the Indian soil in 13 years. Nawaz Sharif, it may be recalled, came to India as Prime Minister to attend Rajiv Gandhi's funeral in 1991.

Mr. Aziz, who comes at the head of a large delegation, including six Ministers and several members of Parliament, is coming to New Delhi as part of his visits to South Asian capitals in his capacity as outgoing SAARC Chairman.

His visit comes days after the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, ruled out the "redrawing" of boundaries between India and Pakistan in Srinagar, a statement to which the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, has taken exception.

The External Affairs Ministry spokesman, meanwhile, said that though the focus of Mr. Aziz's discussions would be on SAARC, he would be meeting the country's leadership and "bilateral discussions" could be expected to take place. "More than that I would not like to guess the outcome or the agenda or the subjects that will be covered exactly."

The spokesman said he did not have any comment to offer on the remarks made yesterday in Lahore by the Pakistani Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, that the first Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus should carry the Hurriyat leadership.

Asked how optimistic New Delhi was about the discussions with Mr. Aziz, he responded: "We have been always hopeful that all the interaction will improve bilateral relations. All our efforts have been in that direction."

Soon after Mr. Aziz's arrival, the External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, and the Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, will call on Mr. Aziz, who will also meet the former Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee.

The Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is expected to figure in the Aziz-Aiyar talks.

His meetings with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and the United Progressive Alliance Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, are on Wednesday.

In an interview to BBC this evening, the Pakistani Prime Minister said relations with India had substantially improved when compared to 12 months ago. Pointing out that overflights and people-to-people contacts had commenced, Mr. Aziz said, "I think the whole atmosphere is getting better ... I think we are substantially ahead from where we were 12 months ago. But there is a long road ahead of us, and we must address various issues, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir".

According to him, the main purpose was to take the dialogue process between the two countries forward and take one step at a time. "The dialogue process is something that Pakistan is very committed to, and we believe that this could be a mechanism to lower the tension... and to solve the issues that haven't been addressed for a long time."

Separately, South Block sources told this correspondent that India did not expect Mr. Aziz to present any formal proposals to flesh out what Gen. Musharraf had said about demilitarising identified regions in Kashmir and then changing their status.

India, the sources said, was committed to the softening of the Line of Control while remaining firmly opposed to a "second Partition".

If there cannot be progress on Kashmir, then we should discuss other issues where progress was possible, the sources maintained.

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