Indo-Pak summit: Tough talk over Kashmir dispute<\/p>\n
NEW DELHI (Agencies): Tough talk over the disputed Kashmir
\nprovince escalated and security was tightened on Friday, the eve
\nof a landmark summit between India and Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Security was stepped up in the Indian capital before
\nSaturday's arrival of Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf,
\nwith authorities claiming threats by Islamic extremists to
\ndisrupt the three-day summit.<\/p>\n
The Pakistan leader was to spend the day in New Delhi for
\nofficial ceremonies, private meetings and a state banquet.<\/p>\n
One of those meetings will be with India's home minister, L.K.
\nAdvani, who will challenge Musharraf on cross-border terrorism
\nand infiltration of Islamic guerrillas from Pakistan into the
\nnorthern Indian Jammu-Kashmir state.<\/p>\n
The formal summit between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister
\nAtal Bihari Vajpayee begins on Sunday morning in Agra, the city
\nsoutheast of New Delhi that is home to the Taj Mahal.<\/p>\n
The summit marks the first talks between the nuclear rivals
\nsince 1999, when a dialog to improve relations broke off after
\nPakistan launched an attack on Indian-held Kashmir.<\/p>\n
Musharraf insisted he could not remain leader of the country
\nif he accepted India's continued control of the disputed
\nHimalayan territory.<\/p>\n
But Vajpayee said Kashmir would always remain a core part of
\nthe country and he rejected any suggestion of third-party
\nmediation.<\/p>\n
Although India wants the summit to address a raft of issues
\nranging from trade to nuclear weapons, Pakistan insists that
\nKashmir must top the agenda.<\/p>\n
They have fought two wars over the territory since Muslim
\nPakistan was carved out of Hindu-dominated India after
\nindependence from Britain in 1947, and over 30,000 people have
\ndied in a separatist rebellion in Kashmir which started over a
\ndecade ago.<\/p>\n
Both sides also menaced each other with nuclear weapons tests
\nin 1999, a development that shocked the West and brought economic
\nsanctions from the United States, Japan and other nations.<\/p>\n
Musharraf told the Dubai-based Gulf News that no Pakistani
\nleader could accept continued Indian control over Kashmir and
\nexpect to stay in power.<\/p>\n
\"Who in Pakistan could ever accept this?\" he said.<\/p>\n
Vajpayee, however, insisted India's position on Kashmir stems
\nfrom \"the core principle of our nationhood\", the Press Trust of
\nIndia (PTI) quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n
Despite the pre-summit posturing, both leaders also said they
\nwere going into the meeting with an open mind and a desire to
\nheal relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n
Hype<\/p>\n
\"The summit has created such hype that the entire world is
\nwatching us,\" Pakistan's The News quoted Musharraf as saying. \"We
\nmust meet with an open mind, remove the main irritant.\"<\/p>\n
\"We have to move ahead to the future,\" Vajpayee said. I hope
\nPresident Musharraf will bring to the summit meeting a desire to
\nbury the conflicts of the past and to build a new relationship.\"<\/p>\n
In Kashmir, much of the state was paralysed on Friday by a
\none-day strike called by the main separatist alliance, the All
\nParties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, to commemorate a 1931
\ncrackdown on Muslims in the state by its princely Sikh ruler.<\/p>\n
Two separatist leaders said they had been briefly put under
\nhouse arrest to prevent them from leading a protest march or
\nholding a news conference.<\/p>\n
Violence also continued. Police said three Indian soldiers and
\ntwo separatist rebels were killed in a clash late on Thursday at
\nGurez, near the Pakistan border.<\/p>\n
Pakistan controls a third of Kashmir and India frequently
\naccuses Islamabad of arming many of the dozen or so militant
\ngroups fighting New Delhi's rule in its part.<\/p>\n
Pakistan, which want a 1948 United Nations resolution for a
\nplebiscite on the future of the state to be implemented, denies
\nthe charges, saying it provides only moral support.<\/p>\n
Musharraf said past agreements between India and Pakistan,
\nnamely the Simla Agreement in 1972 and the Lahore Declaration of
\n1999, failed because Kashmir was not the sole issue.<\/p>\n
\"Until now, Kashmir has always been sidelined by India,\"
\nMusharraf said in an interview with PTI on Friday. \"I have never
\nat all said that I will be flexible on the issue to be discussed,
\nwhich is Kashmir. I have said Kashmir is the only issue.\"<\/p>\n
Musharraf, who recently declared himself president, is being
\nwelcomed only begrudgingly in the world's largest democracy. The
\nmilitary hawk has fought in two wars against India and is widely
\nbelieved to be the instigator of the 11-week incursion into
\nIndian-held Kashmir in 1999. He then seized power in a coup.<\/p>\n
On Friday, more than 200 people marched toward Parliament
\nwearing saffron robes, representing Hinduism. They burned a 10-
\nfoot effigy of Musharraf and declared the talks would fail
\nbecause Pakistan aids infiltration of Islamic militants into
\nKashmir.<\/p>",
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