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The Agra rendezvous

Ashok Dasgupta

IRRESPECTIVE of whoever may have been the mediator for the Vajpayee-Musharraf summit -- the much-hyped meeting during July 15-16 to end the strife and tension in the sub-continent -- all eyes are now focussed with cautious optimism at Agra, the venue of what may well be the historic meeting of the century between two heads of state.

As of now, the only certainty is the fact that the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who recently orchestrated his elevation as the President of Pakistan, are scheduled to meet on the appointed day. As to what would be t he outcome is still in the realms of uncertainty, especially when the Pak General has been strategically blowing hot and cold with each passing day.

In any case, it would be naive for anyone to imagine, even for a moment, that the summit would be a spectacular success. For the simple reason that, ever since Independence, the two countries have viewed each other with distrust and suspicion and have fo ught three full-scale wars, apart from the recent skirmish at Kargil. The Kargil skirmish, in fact, takes the cake as Pak regulars and mercenaries infiltrated into the unmanned Indian posts at Kargil while the bus diplomacy was being enacted at Lahore.

More importantly, while the Indian Government, forgetting the past, has been trying to broaden the scope of discussions at Agra by including issues such as trade relations and visa-less tourism between the two countries, Gen. Musharraf has, more or less, stuck to his one-point agenda, the Kashmir issue.

Besides, to make his narrow intentions clear, he has let it be known that the Pak Commerce Minister will not be a part of his delegation. At the same time, he has made it a point to keep the Kashmir issue alive like a raw wound by announcing that he woul d meet some of the Hurriyat leaders over tea on Indian soil during his visit, much to the dislike of the Indian Government.

The Indian approach to the summit appears to be with a more open mind. To evolve a consensus, Mr Vajpayee held a all-party meeting wherein the unanimous desire expressed was for good relations with Pakistan, in keeping with the country's consistent commi tment to develop a ``positive and constructive relationship of peace and friendship with our neighbour.''

Without referring to the sore point of Kashmir by name, Mr Vajpayee said: ``We are resolved to moving ahead and, in that process, seeking resolution of all issues, however intractable they may be. We keep hearing about the so-called core issue (an obviou s reference to Kashmir) standing in the way of good neighbourly relations... But narrow and cliche-ridden approaches have not worked in the past. Nor has violence.

``We have to seek another way -- one that takes the entire relationship forward and addresses the core concerns of our peoples in their struggle against poverty... Consistent with the principles of our polity and our national aspirations and interests, w e hope to move away from the mistrust and prejudices of the past.''

India's aspirations and interests have been amply made clear in recent days, as far as Kashmir is concerned. Kashmir, it has been categorically stated by other Ministers, is an integral part of India and the country will not part with even an inch of its territory.

For the Pak authorities, Kashmir is the focal point of the dialogue. And any climbdown from its stated position would be a negative factor for Musharraf back home. The simple fact of the matter is that normalisation of relations with India would render t he Pak military junta redundant. Can Musharraf afford to do that?