Gujral, Sharief meet, quell doubts about peace talks

Prime Minister I K Gujral met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharief at breakfast on Saturday during the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting at Edinburgh. After the meeting, the two prime ministers directed their foreign secretaries to evolve a "flexible and less rigid" mechanism to carry forward the bilateral dialogue between the two countries and to fix the dates for their next round of meetings.

Briefing reporters after the 75-minute cordial meeting, Foreign Secretary K Raghunath said the two prime ministers decided to ease visa restrictions for elderly women and children. They also agreed to jointly celebrate the golden jubilee of independence of the two countries by organising a series of lectures on subjects like culture, environment, health and urban development.

This was the third meeting between Gujral and Sharief this year. The two had met in Male in May during the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation summit and later in New York last month, when they were there to attend the United Nations general assembly session.

The two prime ministers are again scheduled to meet in Dhaka next month at an economic summit of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan being arranged by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed.

Gujral and Sharief discussed the situation along the line of control and noted that it had been stable for sometime. They felt steps should be taken to ensure that this stability continued.

Sharief did raise the Kashmir issue at the meeting, but Raghunath said it was India's understanding that Pakistan was willing to discuss other issues which would help normalise relations between the two countries.

Raghunath also said the two countries had been co-operating at the ongoing Commonwealth summit to jointly project the views of the developing nations on trade, development and investment, as part of the consultations within the CHOGM.

Gujral was assisted at the talks by Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, Minister of State for External Affairs Kamala Sinha, N N Vohra, principal secretary to the prime minister, and the foreign secretary. Sharief was assisted by Pakistan Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan, the ministers of trade, commerce, youth affairs and sports and Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed.

Before the breakfast meeting at the Caledonian hotel, where Sharief is staying, the Pakistan prime minister said it was important that the two countries continue a meaningful and substantive dialogue for settlement of all disputes, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir. A meaningful dialogue was important, he stressed, because it generated all kinds of hopes.

Asked to identify major issues between the two countries, Sharief said, "Of course, Kashmir is a major issue." He said he was relieved he had public opinion with him. "We will do nothing which would alienate us from the people of Pakistan."