Speculation over Musharraf visit dates

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 15. There is intense speculation in the media here about the dates of the Pakistan military ruler and Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf's visit to New Delhi for a summit meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee.

It all began with Gen. Musharraf's statement in the course of an interview to the BBC, shortly after he received the invitation from Mr. Vajpayee. He had indicated that he was prepared to travel to Delhi anytime after June 20. And teasingly had added that it could be June 25, the last week of June or the first week of July.

The announcement by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, in New Delhi that the summit could take place sometime in the first half of July did not discourage the journalists from continuing with the speculation.

A statement by the spokesman of the Pakistan Foreign Office last week that the summit would take place ``shortly'' after Mr. Vajpayee recovered from his knee surgery only further fuelled the speculation.

A report in the Pakistani Urdu daily, Jang, today said that Gen. Musharraf's three-day visit would begin from July 9. Quoting ``highly reliable official and diplomatic sources'', the paper said the dates for his proposed visit had been finalised through diplomatic channels, but a formal announcement would be made simultaneously from New Delhi and Islamabad after India's approval of the proposed dates.

It said Gen. Musharraf would leave for India on July 9 and return after spending two nights and three days in New Delhi. A formal welcome ceremony would be held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The Prime Minister, along with his Cabinet colleagues, would welcome Gen. Musharraf and a guard of honour would be given to him. On the same day, Gen. Musharraf would meet the President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan. It said the summit talks between Gen. Musharraf and Mr. Vajpayee would be held at the Hyderabad House, though it did not specify when the meeting would take place.

Even before the journalist community could absorb the details of the Jang report, an international wire agency stated that the visit would either be in the second or the third week of July. The AFP quoted an unnamed Indian diplomat in Islamabad. However, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad maintained that the dates for the visit were yet to be finalised.

A senior diplomat here said that the conflicting reports were ``nothing more than intelligent guess work'' and that the actual programme was yet to be chalked out.

``It is possible that Islamabad has indicated dates for an early visit and the Indian side has suggested July 15 as Mr. Vajpayee would take some more time to recuperate from the surgery'', the diplomat said.

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