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A mixed beginning for `people's summit'

Rasheeda Bhagat

AS far as television viewership goes, the Indo-Pak summit cannot of course compete with Indo-Pak cricket matches which have become one of the greatest liabilities of New Delhi's deteriorating relations with Islamabad.

But it would indeed come a close second going by the media attention the summit has attracted in both the countries. As numerous Indian satellite channels, not to forget CNN and BBC,

beamed the first day of the Summit into millions of homes in the subcontinent, noted human rights activist from Pakistan, Ms Asma Jehangir, hit the nail on the head when she called it a ``people's summit.''

Participating in a panel discussion on Star News, she said that whatever be the outcome of the actual talks between the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and the Indian Prime Minister, Mr A.B. Vajpayee, the greatest fallout of the whole exercise was the involvement of the people on both sides in this dialogue.

She was obviously referring to the huge movement of journalists across the border; Indian journalists being at long last given visa by this military regime to visit Paksitan on the eve of the summit and the huge numbers of Pakistani journalists who have come to India to cover the event.

By all accounts the first day of the General's visit went off well, except for the Hurriyat playing spoil sport and spoiling the party, literally. While the NDA and the Congress boycotted the tea party hosted by the Pakistan High Commissioner, Mr Ashraf Jehangir Kazi, protesting at the guest list including Hurriyat leaders, Gen. Musharraf went ahead with a closed-door meeting with his special guests from the Valley.

According to a senior Hurriyat leader, Mr Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, President Musharraf told the Hurriyat leaders that Paksitan recognises them as the ``legitimate voice of the Kashmiri people'' and assured the people of Kashmir that it would continue to giv e it ``moral and political support.''

While this is bound to ruffle the feathers of the NDA Government, an Indian can be justifiably proud of our democratic tradition which did not result in the official machinery doing anything stupid to jeopardise the participation of the Hurriyat leaders in the tea party at Pakistan House. Whatever the Hurriyat's allegiance or political ideology, they are citizens of India and the Government did well to stop with expressing its displeasure at the invitation extended to the Hurriyat.

There is no doubt that the General's meeting with the Hurriyat has sullied the pitch of the summit a bit and it remains to be seen how both the sides take it from here. Happily enough, except for this muddle, the rest of the General's engagements on Day 1 went off rather well.

People who met him at the lunch hosted by Mr Vajpayee at Taj Palace were witness to the cordial atmosphere which prevailed there. There was a relaxed atmosphere and laughter, chatting and a feeling of camaraderie. It was significant that the Prime Minist er's guest list included Bollywood stars who are immensely popular in Paksitan, including Dilip Kumar, Shahrukh Khan and Shabana Azmi. No amount of animosity between the two countries has been able to stop Pakistanis from enjoying the latest Hindi movies through pirated or smuggled VCDs and cassettes.

But as former Prime Minister, Mr V.P. Singh, while describing the General as a ``warm and friendly person,'' put it, ``The dining table is one thing and the negotiating table is another matter altogether.''

A significant aspect of the Pakistan President's first day in India was what he is supposed to have told the group of intellectuals he met at Paksitan House before the tea party. He told them that while he understands Mr Vajpayee's compulsions, the latte r should understand his compulsions too.

Obviously, the reference was to the meeting with the Hurriyat leaders. Having defied the Indian establishment on this issue, the General can hold this up as an achievement to the hard-core elements back at home. Let us not forget that if we have our home -spun brand of lunatics like the VHP member who went on fast to ``give strength'' to Mr Vajpayee so that with his ``liberal outlook, emotional nature and poetic heart'' he should not effect a sell-out to Pakistan, our neighbour has its fair share of even greater buffoons.

So, with this ``achievement'' in his pocket, if Gen. Musharraf can show some pragmatism and meet Mr Vajpayee's gesture halfway in discussing the present Indo-Pak impasse within sensible parameters and terms of reference, history will be much less harsh o n his coup and dislodging of a democratic regime in Paksitan.

In any case, it would be naive to expect miracles from the Summit. Even if nothing concrete emerges from it, since Indo-Pak relationship had deteriorated so much in the recent past and after Kargil, all the boneless chicken and ras malai, Indian handicra fts and goodwill we can lay out, will suffice for the moment.