Gujral, Sharief decide to avoid clashes along LoC
Dhirendra Bisht in New York
Prime Minister I K Gujral and his Pakistani
counterpart Nawaz Sharief have decided to improve the communications
between the armed forces along the line of control
in Jammu and Kashmir to avoid a recurrence of last month's
border clashes.
At their second meeting this year -- they met at the SAARC summit in Male in May -- the two prime ministers also discussed the
stalemate in the foreign secretary-level talks over interpretation
of the June 23 Islamabad declaration concerning
the setting up of a working group on Jammu and Kashmir. An agreement was obviously elusive.
Last week, the foreign secretaries left the matter to be resolved by the two premiers, but Gujral and Sharief passed the buck back to the two diplomats,
to be discussed further at the next foreign secretary-level
parleys in Islamabad.
To prevent border clashes along the LOC, both
Gujral and Sharief felt there was need to improve the
communications between the military commanders.
Sources said the communication channels at the sector commander
level were likely to be revived. Necessary directives in this regard
will be given soon.
Gujral was assisted in the talks by Finance Minister Palaniappan
Chidambaram, Minister of State for External Affairs Salim Sherwani
and Foreign Secretary K Raghunath. Sharief was accompanied by Foreign
Minister Gohar Ayub Khan and his information advisor, Senator Mushahid Hussain.
Sharief said Gujral and he had agreed that ''our
differences'' must be resolved through constant dialogue and that
the suggestion of a non-aggression pact between the two
countries he had made in his speech at the UN General Assembly
on Monday did not figure in the talks.
Despite Sharief's sabre-rattling on Monday, the ''atmosphere and ambience'' at the meeting was ''excellent'',
sources said, adding that the ''personal chemistry'' between the
two prime ministers was very good.
Gujral, the sources said, was of the view that bilateral ties in economic and other areas should be strengthened even as efforts
continue to find solutions to intractable political problems.
Indian diplomats said Sharief's non-aggression pact suggestion was not new. In fact, India had suggested this way
back to Pakistan in 1948. In 1980, the then Pakistan president Zia-ul Haq had
come up with a similar idea. In response, India had suggested that
the two countries sign a treaty of co-operation and friendship. But
nothing came out of these suggestions.
Gujral appeared well prepared in case Sharief raised the issue at Tuesday morning's meeting. Sources said India would welcome any constructive suggestion
that Pakistan might put forward. ''We are ready to continue
discussing the idea of a non-aggression pact,'' one diplomat said.
About Pakistan's demand that India reduce its troop strength in
Jammu and Kashmir, the sources said it was not being considered.
Such sensitive decisions were governed by considerations of
national security.
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