U.S. pressure led to Agra summit, says Congress

NEW DELHI, AUG. 9. The Congress today accused the Vajpayee Government of succumbing to pressure from the United States in holding the Agra summit and said the outcome of the talks showed a betrayal by Islamabad.

The very fact that Washington indicated the dates of the summit when the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, was in a Mumbai hospital showed India was ``prodded'' into holding talks with Islamabad, the Congress member, Mr. Kapil Sibal, said participating in the resumed discussion on the summit in the Rajya Sabha.

``You must have been pressured by the international community. You must have been prodded by the U.S.,'' Mr. Sibal said referring to the White House spokesperson expressing Washington's full support to the summit when Mr. Vajpayee was still in hospital and the date for the parleys not yet announced.

The Congress member said the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf's rhetoric reflected the mindset of the other side, yet India innocently hoped something would come out of the summit.

Mr. Sibal also criticised the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ms. Sushma Swaraj, who said Mr. Vajpayee had conveyed a strong and tough message to Gen. Musharraf during the talks. ``We did not see Mr. Vajpayee speaking during the summit,'' he said wondering how the Prime Minister could have sent a tough message.

On the stepped-up violence in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Sibal said the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, claimed the caravan of talks would continue but what was being witnessed in Kashmir was only a caravan of dead bodies splattered with blood.

The BJP's Mr. Dinanath Mishra said no breakthrough could be achieved in bilateral relations without a change in the ``hate- India'' mindset in Pakistan. The role of Islamic fundamentalists and the Inter-Services Intelligence was quite visible in the utterances of Gen. Musharraf, he said adding the Pakistani military ruler had ``crystallised'' his obstinate stand on Kashmir under pressure from them.

The DMK's Mr. P. N. Siva likened the summit to a cricket match saying it ended in a draw. Though there was no joint statement or a declaration at the end of the summit, there was a convergence of views on which both sides could build on, he added.

Mr. Janeshwar Mishra of the Samajwadi Party said Mr. Vajpayee should have consulted the Opposition before inviting Gen. Musharraf for talks. By calling the Opposition leaders for consultations after sending an invitation to Gen. Musharraf, the Prime Minister wanted to make them a party to the talks, he claimed.

The BJP's Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad said the biggest achievement of the summit was that the Government had been able to prove, after two years' consistent effort, that Pakistan was using terrorism as a diplomatic tool and indulging in cross- border terrorism.

- PTI

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