'Indo-Pak. summit will bring two nations together'

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JULY 8. The coming India-Pakistan summit is the beginning of the process of bringing the two nations together, Ms. Nirmala Deshpande, founder of the Association of Peoples of Asia, said today.

Expressing happiness over the proposed one-on-one meeting between the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Ms. Deshpande told presspersons here that peace activists, including herself, had been advocating that top leaders of the two countries hold dialogue with each other.

``The very fact that the process has started itself is a big achievement. If this process continues, we will be able to solve our problems gradually,'' she said.

Describing Gen. Musharraf as a ``lover of peace'', Ms. Deshpande said the Pakistani ruler was keen on promoting friendly ties between the two countries. She had led a women's delegation in March 2000 and a group of retired military officers in February this year to Pakistan. ``On both occasions, we met Gen. Musharraf at his Rawalpindi residence and he was extremely courteous to us,'' she recalled, adding she had been invited for a tea party to be hosted at the Pakistan's High Commission in honour of the visiting dignitary.

Ms. Deshpande, who is co-chairperson of the Raj Ghat Samadhi Samiti (with the Union Urban Development Minister, Mr. Jagmohan), noted that Gen. Musharraf would be Pakistan's first head of state to pay respects at Raj Ghat.

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