India offers joint border patrols
From The Times, AFP
06jun02
INDIAN Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a surprise offer yesterday of joint patrols with Pakistan along their disputed border in Kashmir, signalling a possible easing of tension between the war-ready rivals.
But Mr Vajpayee ruled out any immediate prospects of peace talks with Islamabad and accused it of not keeping its word on halting cross-border militancy.
"If Pakistan decides that it will not support infiltration, then both countries can set up a joint patrolling mechanism. This proposal can be considered," he told a news conference in Almaty, capital of Kazakhstan, after a security summit of central and Southern Asian leaders.
"For verification, India and Pakistan can have an agreement of joint patrolling."
The summit was also attended by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf but, despite intense international pressure, the two men did not meet face to face. General Musharraf said he was open to talks. But India has firmly ruled them out until it sees an end to what it calls cross-border terrorism.
The only tangible result of the summit was General Musharraf's acceptance of an invitation from Mr Putin to visit Moscow to discuss the nuclear tensions on the sub-continent.
General Musharraf and Mr Vajpayee sat rigidly facing each other across a horseshoe-shaped table as they traded accusations in rhetoric that verged on the hostile.
For the first time in five months, the two leaders sat down in the same room as the world watched for any signs of rapprochement, but the five metres separating them may as well have been a chasm. They did not address each other and did not shake hands.
General Musharraf said that Pakistan did not want war, but "if war is imposed on us, we will defend ourselves with the utmost resolution". He repeated undertakings that it would "not allow its territory to be used for any terrorist acts outside its boundaries".
Mr Vajpayee said he was willing to hold talks, but only if his neighbour stopped militant groups crossing into Indian-administered Kashmir. He took a sideswipe at his rival: "Nuclear powers should not use nuclear blackmail."
India, unlike its smaller neighbour, has a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons. Asked why Pakistan had refused to follow suit, General Musharraf said the possession of such weapons "obviously implies they will be used under some circumstances", but he insisted that Pakistan's "deeper policy" was for the "denucleari sation" of South Asia.
General Musharraf, who seized power in a military coup, was careful to wear civilian clothes, acutely aware that he lacked a democratic mandate. Mr Vajpayee attempted to reinforce his Government's Kashmiri and secularist credentials by ensuring that he sat beside Omar Abdullah, his junior Foreign Minister and a Kashmiri Muslim in what many regard as a stridently Hindu nationalist coalition.
Mr Putin and President Jiang Zemin of China spoke to both leaders separately. Mr Putin tried to put an optimistic gloss on the talks, saying General Musharraf offered "serious positive signals" to end the tension. But there was no date set for the Musharraf visit to Moscow, and no immediate indication from India that it had received a similar offer, or would accept one.
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