Musharraf rings up Vajpayee

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, OCT. 8. The Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, late this evening is believed to have ``promised'' the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, that he would hold an inquiry about Pakistani involvement, if any, in the suicide car bomb attack at the Assembly building in Srinagar recently.

This ``promise'' of a sort was made by the Pakistani ruler when he rang up the Prime Minister. The call, which lasted 15 minutes, was expected to take place early in the evening but for some inexplicable reason could materialise only rather late. The call is understood to have been made as a result of gentle goading from the American and British leaders. Both Washington and London have been left in no doubt that New Delhi could not appreciate the new role being assigned to Pakistan in the ``global war against terrorism'' without at least acknowledging Islamabad's track record in aid and abetting terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

Gen. Musharraf told the Prime Minister that he condemned the Srinagar attack. Mr. Vajpayee is believed to have told the General that in that case why could the Pakistan Government not arrest those involved in the attack, that claimed more than 30 lives, mostly civilians. It was then Gen. Musharraf made the promise that he would order an ``inquiry''.

The Pakistani leader began the conversation with an expression that the tension between the two countries should be lowered; Mr. Vajpayee responded by reiterating that India had always wanted peaceful relations with Pakistan. It was in this vein that the Pakistani leader offered his condemnation of the car bomb incident.

The third and last point Gen. Musharraf made was that the stalled process of dialogue between the two countries should be re- started. The Prime Minister is understood to have agreed with the suggestion in principle, but pointed to the Pakistani leader that if the unifocal insistence remained on Kashmir, and only Kashmir, then the dialogue would remain stalled; instead, Mr. Vajpayee suggested, the two countries should be willing to talk of other issues, though not excluding Kashmir. The Pakistani leader politely heard out Mr. Vajpayee.

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