MUSHARRAF ACCEPTS INDIAN PROPOSAL FOR A SUMMIT

ISLAMABAD 30 May (IPS) Pakistani strongman General Pervez Musharraf accepted Tuesday the invitation of the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for a Summit aimed at "to overcome the legacy of distrust" between the two South Asian nations longest enemies.

India formally invited Pakistan's Chief Executive (CE) General Musharraf and his wife to visit New Delhi last week and the answer, positive, was handed to the Indians on Monday, according to a Pakistani foreign Ministry’s spokesman.

"For the welfare of our peoples, there is no other recourse but a pursuit of the path of reconciliation, of engaging in productive dialogue and by building trust and confidence", Mr. Vajpayee said in his letter, that added: "I invite you to walk this high road with us."

Well informed Pakistani sources said the proposed summit is likely to take place some time end of June or in early July, as the Indian Premier would be undergoing knee surgery operation on June 7 and he might take a week's time to recover.

A Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting would be the first Indo-Pakistan summit since the Indian Prime Minister made a historic bus trip to Pakistan in February 1999 for talks with then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Since independence, India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars on the issue of Kashmir. Both countries had a bloody conflict at Kargil in the summer of 1998 raising world concerns of a nuclear showdown, as both have developed and tested successfully their atomic bombs.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar welcomed the proposed Summit and hoped that the meeting would ensure a "permanent solution" of the long-standing Kashmir issue.

"The summit meeting will provide an opportunity for dialogue aimed at a permanent settlement of the long-standing Kashmir problem", Sattar said at a crowded Press conference held hours after the news was announced.

"It will also remove the root-cause of tension that has blighted the Pakistan-India relations since 1947" Sattar said.

But the Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani cautioned, "It will be naive to expect early results from the revived process".

Describing the proposed Summit "significant" and a "major initiative" to resolve disputes between the two neighbours, Advani warned that the gulf between the two countries on Kashmir was "too wide to expect quick solutions".

The Pakistani Minister admitted that "other countries" had played a role in bringing this change of mind in New Delhi and though he, did not identified that nation, but informed sources pointed to the United States.

"The motives behind Mr Vajpayee's dualistic approach do not seem hard to discern. His courtship of the US as a substitute strategic partner for the former Soviet Union and China, advanced by Bill Clinton's visit last year, is proceeding apace. India has enthusiastically backed George Bush's missile defence plans. It hopes that US sanctions imposed after its 1998 nuclear weapons tests (which were swiftly matched by Pakistan) may be lifted as a reward. But the US wants progress on Kashmir, which it rightly regards as one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints" Afzal Khan wrote in "The Nation".

Mr. Sattar described the Indian offer as being "without any preconditions", adding that both the sides would discuss the negotiated settlement of the core issue of Kashmir.

However, analysts on both sides predicted that there could be no "quick fix" to the long-running territorial dispute over Kashmir.

India, which is struggling to put down an 11-year revolt in Kashmir, considers the whole of the Himalayan region to be an integral part of the country.

Pakistan disputes the claim and say the people of Kashmir must be given the right to self-determination in line with decades-old U.N. resolutions.

"With that objective in view Pakistan consistently called for resumption of the dialogue and offered to participate in it at any level, including the highest," Sattar said.

The Chief Executive accepted the Indian proposal as some Kashmiri organisations had urged him to not accept the invitation unless India assures troops withdrawal from held Kashmir and releases all the prisoners.

"Pakistan should not accept the invitation for talks", Mr. Bakht Zamin, the Amir (Commander) of Al-Badr Mujahideen said at a news conference held in Peshawar, pointing out that India had never been sincere in putting an end to fighting in the held Kashmir and had used the six-month cease-fire to provide relief to its under-pressure troops in the valley.

Sattar also agreed that India’s record of dialogue with Pakistan "was not encouraging", but pointed out that as per UN charter it is incumbent upon every member not to refuse to enter into dialogue.

Backing for the talks came also from Pakistan’s top officers, with Major General Rashid Qureshi telling Reuters Television: "One expects that there needs to be a little flexibility and effort on both sides to come close and to get to any area which is acceptable to the people of Pakistan, for the government of India, for the people of Kashmir". ENDS INDIA PAKISTAN SUMMIT 30501