South Asia looks to free trade zone from 2006

South Asia, whose leaders began a landmark summit Sunday, will start breaking down regional trade frontiers from 2006 to create a free trade zone in one of the world's most populous and poorest regions.

"This indeed is a landmark decision," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said as he announced agreement on a framework for the South Asia Free Trade Area.

The SAFTA agreement will take effect from January 1, 2006 once it is approved at the three-day summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

The agreement envisions a free trade regime among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, home to one-fifth of the world's population and almost half its poor.

They make up SAARC, which was founded in 1985 to forge economic solidarity and boost standards of living among the region's 1.4 billion people.

One fifth of the world's consumers live in South Asia, on an average yearly income of 450 dollars.

Implementation of the new tariff regime offers three sets of deadlines according to member states' varying economic prowess.

"Pakistan and India will complete SAFTA implementation by the year 2009 whereas Sri Lanka will take another year (2010) to bring its tariff down to five to zero percent," Pakistani commerce ministry spokesman Zafar Qadir said.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Nepal, with weaker economies, have received concessions to avail of a longer deadline that would end by 2013.

Kasuri said each member state would be allowed to maintain a sensitive list of products on which tariff would not be reduced.

"This list will be maintained from now and the date on which the SAFTA will come into force," he said.

Liberal trade would benefit all SAARC countries but there is specific scope for larger trade volume between India and Pakistan.

While official trade between the two stands at 204 million dollars, the real value of informal trade is estimated at some seven times higher at around 1.5 billion dollars.

The SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which has been a driving force behind SAFTA, predicts a boost of up to four billion dollars.

"If good relations prevail there is a potential for three to four billion dollars in bilateral trade over two years," spokesman Waqar Ahmed told AFP.

Pakistan, less advanced economically than India, could face tough competition from cheaper Indian goods but Pakistanis are undeterred by the upcoming regional trade regime.

"It is fair to say that Indian goods are cheaper than ours but it is not applicable to all things. If they have goods to offer in the engineering and machinery sector, our textile industry is far more competitive than theirs," said Zafar.

"Some of our fine goods could complement our exposed sectors."

Regional trade is expected to act as a catalyst to bringing the nuclear rivals closer and helping to alleviate grinding poverty.

"The ice has started melting now," said Ilyas Bilour, president of the India-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Sri Lanka's president Chandrika Kumaratunga desscribed the treaty as a "historic step for regional economic cooperation."

"As the pioneer South Asian state to undertake economic liberalisation, Sri Lanka welcomes the conclusion of SAFTA, even though we possess a small and vulnerable economy," Kumaratunga said in her address to the opening of the South Asia summit.

"It is necessary that we keep in mind that short term losses would be compensated by the opportunities gained from trade expansion under SAFTA."

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, whose government led concerns among SAARC's less-developed countries, proposed compensation for the smaller economies and a separate timeframe for them.

Zia told the summit's opening that the new trade regime could include "special measures for the least developed countries" like an adequate timeframe for freeing trade; compensatory financing for revenue loss and the concept of early harvest.
--AFP

India seeks meeting with Musharraf
 

India has sought a meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for Monday, Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters. "Our prime minister has asked for a courtesy call with President Musharraf tomorrow," Sinha told reporters Sunday, after he met his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri in a 45-minute courtesy call.

Meeting set between Pakistan, Indian FMs

Pakistan announced its foreign minister will meet India's foreign minister later Sunday, after the opening of a seven-nation regional summit.

Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri will visit his Indian counterpart Yashwant Sinha at Islamabad's Marriot Hotel at 2:30 pm (0930 GMT), a government statement said in Islamabad.

Kasuri on Saturday urged immediate talks between the nuclear rivals' foreign secretaries to kick-start a stalled dialogue process.

The neighbours are in the throes of a detente after coming to the brink of their fourth war in 2002.

The South Asian Association for regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit is being seen as the rivals' first chance to meet and talk in more than two years.
--AFP

Chronology of highpoints of India-Pakistan relations since Agra summit

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Pakistan's capital could be the platform for the first meeting between India and Pakistan in two-and-a-half years.

Leaders will have a chance to at least shake hands at two banquets hosted separately by President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali during the January 4-6 summit.

Both sides have hinted that talks on the sidelines may be possible but nothing has been confirmed.

The last time the nuclear-capable neighbours held talks was in July 2001 in the Indian city of Agra, where Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee met Musharraf.

Talks broke down and the two countries plunged into a bitter political conflict, coming close to war after Islamic militants attacked New Delhi's parliament in December 2001, until serious fence-mending began in April 2003.

Here is a brief chronology of events since their last formal meeting:

July 16, 2001: Vajpayee and Musharraf hold a historic summit in Agra in an effort to bring peace between the two countries. The talks break down over a decades-old dispute over Kashmir, the Himalayan region claimed by both.

December 13, 2001: Islamic militants stage a suicide attack on the Indian parliament, 14 people die including the five gunmen. New Delhi says Pakistan masterminded the attack, prompting the deployment of hundreds of thousands of troops to the border, the cutting of transport links and the recall of India's high commissioner from Pakistan.

January 6, 2002: Vajpayee and Musharraf meet in Nepal's capital Kathmandu at the last SAARC summit. In a dramatic move, Musharraf shakes Vajpayee's hand, but the Indian prime minister says he is waiting for concrete actions.

May 14, 2002: Islamic militants attack an Indian army camp at Kaluchak, near Kashmir's winter capital Jammu, killing 35 people, mostly women and children. Military tensions escalate again.

June 4, 2002: Vajpayee and Musharraf meet at a regional summit in Kazhakstan's capital Almaty, but avoid each other. Vajpayee offers joint patrolling with Pakistan of the border but Islamabad rejects it.

June 10, 2002: India lifts an overflight ban on Pakistani aircraft after acknowledging a reduction in infiltration of Islamic militants into disputed Kashmir. Tension levels ease following a series of visits by powerful Western leaders. Pakistan refuses to match lifting of overflight ban.

August 21, 2002: Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha and Pakistani Deputy Foreign Minister Inamul Haq attend a SAARC meeting in Kathmandu. No talks are held.

November 14, 2002: India pulls back troops from all border areas except Kashmir, leading to a de-escalation of tension with Pakistan.

December 9, 2002: Pakistan postpones a SAARC summit set for January in Islamabad, blaming India for equivocating on whether it will attend.

February 24, 2003: Musharraf and Vajpayee attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. They attack each other's stands over Kashmir.

April 18, 2003 : During a tour of Kashmir, Vajpayee offers to "open the doors for talks" with Pakistan, but links it to the end of cross border infiltration of militants. Vajpayee later holds telephone talks with Pakistani counterpart Zafarullah Jamali, the first high-level contact in a year with Pakistan.

May 6: Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali matches Vajpayee's gesture with offers to resume transport links severed by New Delhi in January 2002, release jailed Indian fishermen, reappoint an ambassador and restore sports links.

June 30: Pakistan's sends its first ambassador to India in more than a year, Aziz Ahmed Khan, to New Delhi.

July 11, 2003:
Cross-border bus service resumes after 18 months.

July 15, 2003:
India sends new ambassador Shiv Shankar Menon to Islamabad.

Dec 1, 2003
India and Pakistan agree to resume flights from January 1, 2004.

Dec 4
Vajpayee writes to Jamali confirming he will travel to Islamabad for the SAARC summit. Pakistan publicly welcomes his confirmed participation.

Dec 19, 2003
India and Pakistan agree to resume 'Samjhota Express' train service from

January 15.

Dec 25
Vajpayee says the SAARC summit could result in a "good beginning" of closer ties between India and Pakistan.

Dec 31: India proposes expanding transport and diplomatic links with Pakistan in a new confidence-building measure as Indian Airlines begins selling tickets for Pakistan, two years after New Delhi broke air links.
--AFP

Facts about the seven SAARC nations
 

Leaders of seven South Asian nations open a three-day summit here on Sunday aimed at improving the quality of life of the region's 1.4 billion population. According to a World Bank report in August 2003, 40 percent of its people live on less than one US dollar a day, making the region home to half of the world's poor.

Following are facts about the member states of the 18-year-old South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), based on a United Nations Development Program report in August 2003:

Bangladesh:
Bangladesh has the world's highest population density. It is highly vulnerable to devastating cyclone and floods. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy.

Population: 137.4 million in 2000, annual population growth rate of 2.4 percent.
Adult Literacy: 41.3 percent
Infant Mortality Rate: 54 per 1,000 live births
Population Below Poverty Line: 29.1 percent
GDP Per Capita: 1,602 dollars
Public Health Expenditure: 1.7 percent of GDP
Physicians Per 100,000 Population: 20

Bhutan:
Bhutan has one of the world's smallest and least developed economies, based on subsistence farming, animal husbandry and forestry. Around 96,000 Bhutanese live as refugees in Nepal.

Population:
2.1 million in 2000, with annual population growth rate of 2.3 percent
Adult Literacy: 47 percent
Infant Mortality Rate: 77 per 1,000 live births
Population Below Poverty Line: not available
GDP Per Capita: 141 dollars
Public Health Expenditure: 3.2
Physicians Per 100,000 Population: 48

India:
India's ethnically heterogenenous population exceeds one billion. HIV prevalence is estimated at 3.97 million, ranking second only to South Africa.

It is home to two-thirds of South Asia's people and 70 percent of the region's total area. It has extensive cross-border trade with almost all neighbouring countries.

Population: 1,008.9 million in 2000 an annual population growth of 1.9 percent.
Adult Literacy: 57.2 percent
Infant Mortality Rate: 69 per 1,000 live births.
GDP Per Capita: 2,358 dollars
Public Health Expenditure: not available
Physicians Per 100,000 Population: 48

Maldives:

Made up of 1,192 islands, more than 99 percent of it is water.
Tourism is the main industry, accounting for 20 percent of the GDP and more than 60 percent of foreign exchange receipts.

Population: 0.3 million. Annual population growth rate is 3.0 percent.
Adult Literacy: 96.7 percent.
Infant Mortality Rate: 59 per 1,000 live births
Population Below Poverty Line: not available
GDP Per Capita: 4,485 dollars
Public Health Expenditure: 3.7 percent of GDP.
Physicians Per 100,000 Population: 40

Nepal:

Nepal ranks among the poorest and least developed countries in the world.

Population: 23 million in 2000. Annual population growth rate is 2.2 percent.
Adult Literacy: 41.8 percent.
Infant Mortality Rate: 72 per 1,000 live births
Population Below Poverty Line: 37.7 percent
GDP Per Capita: 1,327 dollars
Public Health Expenditure: 1.3 percent of GDP
Physicians Per 100,000 Population: 4

Pakistan:

Pakistan is a 56-year old Islamic Republic with a third of its mainly Muslim population living in poverty and less than half of its adults able to read and write.

Population: 145 million. Annual population growth rate 2.8 percent.
Adult Literacy: 43.2 percent
Infant Mortality Rate: 85 per 1,000 live births
Population Below Poverty Line: 31 percent
GDP Per Capita: 1,928 dollars
Public Health Expenditure: 0.7 percent of GDP
Physicians Per 100,000 Population: 57

Sri Lanka: 

The island nation has good health parameters and a high literacy rate. It faces unrest in the north and east because of a separatist rebellion.

Population: 18.9 million, annual population growth rate 1.3 percent
Adult Literacy: 91.6 percent
Infant Mortality Rate: 17 per 1,000 live births
Population Below Poverty Line: 6.6 percent
GDP Per Capita: 3,530 dollars
Public Expenditure On Health: 1.7 percent of GDP
Physicians Per 100,000 Population: 36
--AFP

Indian FM calls for lifting of media restrictions on SAARC sidelines

Indian Foreign Minister Yahswant Sinha on Saturday appealed to Pakistan and Bangladesh to lift restrictions on Indian media in their respective countries.

Speaking at a conference of South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA), on the sidelines of the 12th SAARC summit here, Sinha said Pakistan and  Bangladesh were "the only two governments who continue to restrict the free flow of media products into their countries".

"Please consider a change in your policies," Sinha said.

"Indian newspapers, magazines, music, films and television are not going to undermine your societies. Let us break down these artificial walls. The time has come to end this self-defeating approach. South Asia must rise above such shortsightedness."

Most Indian TV channels are banned in Pakistan.
--AFP

Prime Ministers of Bhutan and Nepal meet Pakistan's Musharraf

Bhutan's Prime Minister Lyonpo Jigme Yaeser Thinley and Nepalese Premier Surya Bahadur Thapa met Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday ahead of a seven-nation South Asia summit.

The leaders of the neighbouring Himalayan kingdoms expressed hope that India and Pakistan would engage to improve bilateral relations for peace in South Asia, state media reported.

Thapa and Thinley flew in together to Islamabad early on Saturday for a summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), which opens on Sunday.

In separate meetings with Musharraf they expressed the hope that the three-day summit would be a "milestone in the history of regional organization", the official Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.

"They felicitated the president on his recent peace initiatives vis-a-vis India and expressed the hope that Pakistan and India would continue to remain engaged in order to improve their bilateral relations," APP said quoting a senior foreign ministry official.

It said Musharraf had assured them of "Pakistan's deep commitment to the SAARC principles".

Musharraf said he was "acutely aware that such a large potential in the region lies unrealized because of the problems that are holding the relations between the countries".

"There is a need to move forward in a determined manner to enable this region to join other fast-growing regions of Asia for the rapid progress and prosperity of South Asian people," Musharraf said.

They also expressed "relief and satisfaction" on behalf the kings of Bhutan and Nepal that President Musharraf had emerged unharmed from the two recent assassination attempts.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee also arrived for the summit, but officials were tight-lipped about the possibility of a Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting.

SAARC comprises of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom also arrived on Saturday, while Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga is due to arrive early on Sunday.
--AFP

Hectic backroom diplomacy in Islamabad as Vajpayee arrives

Pakistan's scenic capital city was Saturday buzzing with the distinct possibility of an India-Pakistan dialogue as hectic backroom diplomacy -- in and out of posh hotel rooms -- gained momentum.

The rumour mill intensified with the arrival of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to attend the 12th summit of SAARC, a regional grouping of seven
countries.

Though there was no formal word of any meeting between Vajpayee and the Pakistani leaders, sources on both sides were convinced that "something would happen".

Vajpayee in an interview on state television Saturday said that no bilateral talks would take place during his stay but in an official departure statement later said he will interact with his hosts.

"While in Islamabad, I will take the opportunity of bilateral meetings with other SAARC leaders, besides interacting with our hosts.

"I hope all discussions, bilateral and regional, would proceed in the spirit of friendship, cooperation and good neighbourliness.

Despite conflicting reports, there appeared clear indications that the two sides were moving closer to a meeting.

Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha, when asked if he too was expecting a "structured dialogue," merely said: "We have been repeatedly saying that no meetings have been fixed. Our prime minister is only arriving today and he will be there till the 6th (of January)."

However, according to sources and reports, hectic backroom diplomacy was underway to prepare for a summit between Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

The first indication was apparent when Brajesh Mishra, Vajpayee's key aide and also India's national security advisor, arrived in Islamabad along with the foreign minister on Thursday, even before the Indian media contingent flew in.

Mishra, a seasoned bureaucrat and Vajpayee's most-trusted strategist, normally shadows the prime minister on all foreign visits, always travelling with him.

The break in protocol immediately set the grapevine buzzing. Mishra has since
remained inaccessible to the over 500 media workers thronging the city for the big story.

However, a report in The Nation newspaper Saturday said the official had a meeting Friday with "someone" in Rawalpindi -- President Musharraf's hometown.

Mishra was on his way back from the ancient Buddhist town of Taxila when he made the stopover at Rawalpindi, the report said.

"Perhaps because he (Mishra) knows that the road to Islamabad passes through Rawalpindi," the report quoted an unnamed Pakistani official.

There were unconfirmed reports that secret parleys have continued over the past two days between officials on both sides.

Furthermore, Indian high commissioner Shiv Shankar Menon's call on Prime Minister Jamali on Friday evening was also being interpreted here as more than just a courtesy call.

The suspense over the summit was beginning to cause a considerable degree of frustration in the Pakistani official circles.

A report published in The Nation newspaper said Information Minister Sheikh Rashid, told a Friday religious congregation at Rawalpindi, that Prime Minister Vajpayee will have to meet President Musharraf otherwise the entire exercise will prove futile.
--AFP

12th SAARC Summit Opening Day- Jan 4

SAARC summit opens with call for bridging differences

12th SAARC summit off to a ceremonious start
Substantial talks on Kashmir possible: Vajpayee

A landmark summit of SAARC countries opened in Islamabad on Sunday with a call from Pakistan for overcoming of political differences for economic growth in the South Asian region and amid calls for unity and promises of a better relationship between India and Pakistan.

Outside, 10,000 police and commandos, mindful of two assassination attempts last month against President Gen Pervez Musharraf, enforced a near lockdown on the deserted streets in an unprecedented show of strength. All shops in a so-called "red zone" around the convention centre were shut.

Motorcades of black armoured Limousines ferried leaders of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives to the Jinnah Convention Centre where the three-day summit will unfold. Colour guards of mounted lancers saluted them.

The summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation will endorse a long-stalled free-trade area aimed at improving the lives of one-fifth of the world's population, including hundreds of millions of its poorest people. The leaders will also update a decades-old agreement to combat international terrorism, bringing it into line with United Nations resolutions to choke off terrorist financing.

But the chief focus will be outside the summit's official multilateral agenda - the steadily improving relations between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, whose hostility ran so deep a year ago that the scheduled summit then was cancelled. Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee arrived on Pakistani soil for the first time in nearly five years Saturday and was greeted with exceptional warmth at the airport - closed to commercial flights for security reasons - by his Pakistani counterpart, Zafarullah Khan Jamali.

Jamali and Vajpayee entered the convention center side by side and jointly took their seats.

The scene would have been unimaginable even a year ago, when relations were still poisoned from a suicide attack on India's Parliament on December 13, 2001, by Islamic militants that New Delhi claimed were supported by Pakistan.

Pakistan denied the allegations, but during the 2002 SAARC summit held in Nepal a month later, the two countries were on a war footing with 1 million troops massed along their frontier. Relations have warmed since April, with a cease-fire observed in the disputed territory of Kashmir - which is divided between the two countries but claimed by both in its entirety - and the resumption of diplomatic and transportation links.

Vajpayee has said he will individually meet all the leaders of the SAARC countries on the sidelines of the summit, including host Pakistan. Indian and Pakistani officials have indicated that he will meet Jamali or Musharraf, who is leaving the summit duties to his prime minister but will host a six-hour retreat for the leaders Monday.

But Vajpayee has indicated that he wants talks to stick to regional issues, leaving thorny topics like Kashmir for another time. However, his chief national security adviser arrived in Pakistan on Friday, raising speculation that the topic may be broached, though no breakthrough is expected.

Pakistan fervently hopes that a successful summit will build confidence further and lead to a dialogue on ending the half-century standoff over Kashmir, flashpoint of two of its three wars with India since independence from Britain in 1947.

India has saluted the creation of the free-trade zone, which will see tariffs in the region start to come down by January 1, 2006, as an important step toward creating stability and an atmosphere of solving other disputes.

The summit comes amid a climate of unease over Musharraf's future. The Pakistani leader, who came to power in a military coup in 1999, survived two bombing attacks last month, with at least one of them blamed on Islamic militants opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir.
--AP

12th SAARC summit off to a ceremonious start

The 12th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) began in Islamabad today (Sunday) under unprecedented security with crucial economic and social issues high on the agenda.

The summit is being held after a lapse of two years with great expectation that the 18-year-old organisation that began its journey from Dhaka in 1985 would gain a momentum with new direction to improve the economic status and lifestyle of 1.3 billion people of the region.

The 3-day summit is also seen significant as it might help contribute to a thaw in tension between South Asia's two nuclear rivals -- India and Pakistan.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia left Dhaka this (Saturday) evening for Islamabad to lead Bangladesh delegation to the summit. Heads of state and government from India, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka were also on their way to the Pakistani capital to join the biggest summit of the region.

The stage is already set for a constructive engagement with the SAARC foreign ministers making a major breakthrough by agreeing to set up SAARC Free Trade Area.

The summit of the leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka began at 10:30 am local time today (Sunday) at the Jinnah Convention Centre.

SAARC's outgoing Chairman and Nepalese Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa will declare the summit opened after playing of the national anthem of Pakistan, a photo session of the leaders and recitation from the Holy Quran.

Then Pakistan Prime Minister Jafrullah Jamali will give the welcome address. His speech will be followed by addresses of the other leaders.

Ahead of the 12th summit of the SAARC, the foreign ministers of the South Asian grouping have also cleared the hitches to an Additional Protocol to the Regional Convention on Suppression of terrorism and a path-breaking Social Charter.

The summit takes place for the first time in two years after the last one was held in Kathmandu in January 2002 where Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf made a surprise handshake with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee seeking to break the ice of the Kargil conflict.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has taken extraordinary measures for the security of the leaders of the SAARC countries participating in the summit.

Over 10,000 security personnel, including police, rangers, army troops and other secret agencies in uniform and plain clothes are patrolling the streets of the federal capital.

Police posts have been set up at narrow distances checking vehicles, especially those having number-plates, and strangers to the capital.

Apart from Pakistani security arrangements, commandos from India have also been deployed for the security of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Khaleda Zia in Islamabad

Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia arrived at Chaklala Airport here at 9pm (local time) to attend the 3-day 12th SAARC summit, beginning today (Sunday).

Pakistan Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali received Begum Zia at the airport.

She was accorded a red-carpet reception and given guard of honour by a smartly turned out contingent of Pak Armed Forces.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister will stay in Punjab House.

Substantial talks on Kashmir possible: Vajpayee

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Saturday said though Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, New Delhi is willing to hold substantial talks with Pakistan to iron out the existing differences.
"It is obvious that for talks to succeed you need time and it is for this reason, I believe the talks should continue. We have never shirked from talking about Jammu and Kashmir. Yes, it is an integral part of India, but even so we are willing to talk about it," said Vajpayee in an interview to PTV/ANI.

The Prime Minister said it is "not just alone in the interest of both the countries to live in peace, but it is also good for the region and whole world."

Vajpayee said he has no qualms about meeting Musharraf and expressed the hope that "whatever talks we will have, will lead to some results".

The Prime Minister said he has been working for friendship with Pakistan for the last 25 years, since he first visited Karachi as the then External Affairs Minister to open India's consulate there.

He said a lot of water has flown down the rivers of both the countries since then and it is time for both the countries to settle the disputes through talks.

"We have to live together, either fighting or in peace. People from both sides have realized the futility of fighting each other always," added Vajpayee saying that there is no need for a strategy to deal with a neighbour.

Vajpayee said if President Musharraf has described him as a "man of peace," there is nothing wrong in it. "I have been working for peace and will continue to work," said Vajpayee.

Replying to a question whether Indo-Pakistan relations would be an issue for the 2004 general elections, Vajpayee said Pakistan would not be an issue; on the other hand, the question would be "who wants to improve relations with Pakistan."

He described the happenings in Gujarat before the Assembly elections last year as unfortunate. He, however, denied that the Hindu-Muslim carnages were made an election issue.

The Prime Minister brushed aside the criticism that India is a "junior partner of America." He said New Delhi does not shy away from openly expressing its stand on issues of differences with the USA.

"We have a friendship with America, we have cooperation in many fields, but as equals and not as a junior partner," said Vajpayee.

The Prime Minister is now in Islamabad to attend the 13th SAARC Summit. Despite denials that so far no bilateral meeting has been finalised between Vajpayee and his counterpart or President Musharraf, External Affairs Minister Yaswant Sinha hinted at such a possibility. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the SAARC Ministerial Council meeting on Friday, Sinha said, "let the Prime Minister arrive on Saturday, we will then decide."
--ANI

Optimism prevails on eve of South Asian summit

Optimism ran high as South Asia's leaders arrived in the Pakistani capital Saturday for a landmark summit after ministers agreed to turn the region into a free trade zone and strengthen anti-terrorism measures.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit offers a key chance for its giants India and Pakistan to meet for the first time since near war in 2002 and propel an eight-month peace process.

Before heading to Pakistan however Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ruled out talks on bilateral issues.

"There will be no bilateral talks. We want to give all our energy to making the SAARC (South Asian Association Regional Cooperation) talks successful," he told state-run television.

The summit is also being seen as an opportunity to revive the 18-year-old forum thanks to thawing India-Pakistan ties, to which it has been hostage most of its life.

The nuclear rivals were on the brink of war at the last SAARC summit in Kathmandu two years ago. Ongoing tensions triggered the cancellation of the 2003 summit in Islamabad.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

India's Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha declared the 12th SAARC summit would be "exceptionally successful and historic" after foreign ministers finalised the free trade and anti-terrorism agreements plus a social charter.

He said they augured well for bilateral India-Pakistan ties.

The pacts are ready to be approved by heads of government who begin a three-day meeting from Sunday.

"We have been able to adopt all the agendas," his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri told reporters Saturday at the conclusion of the two days of pre-summit talks by foreign ministers.

Under a massive security net involving 10,000 police and paramilitary officers, a network of checkpoints and sealed off roads, and soldiers manning anti-aircraft guns in hills above Islamabad, SAARC heads of state began arriving for Sunday's opening.

The prime ministers of Bhutan and Nepal, Surya Bahadur Thapa and Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonpo Jigme Yaeser Thinley were the first to fly in at around 9.30 am (0430 GMT) Saturday.

Vajpayee arrived later on a special flight from New Delhi in his first visit to Pakistan since his famous peace-bid bus journey to Lahore in 1999.

Falling 10 days after a double suicide assassination attempt against President Pervez Musharraf -- the second in less than a fortnight -- Vajpayee is taking no chances. Two of his private armoured security cars were airlifted to Islamabad earlier this week.

The agreements on free trade and terrorism were hailed by India's Foreign Secretary Shashank, who uses only one name, as a good omen for "bilateral" progress at the landmark summit.

"This development would contribute in achieving even bilateral progress," Shashank told reporters Friday.

The South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) agreement is due to come in force from January 1 2006 to establish a free trade zone in the region where one fifth of the world's population and almost half its poor live.

Under the framework SAARC countries would reduce tariffs to between 0 and 5.0 percent, from between 25 percent and 30 percent.

Business leaders hope it will raise inter-SAARC trade from four or five percent of their total trade output to 60 percent.

"The atmosphere is cooperative, it is moving away from confrontation which is a good omen," political analyst Talat Masood told AFP.

Contrary to Vajpayee's remarks, Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali said he was expecting a "structured Indo-Pak summit" during the Indian leader's visit.
"There is a possibility that I will have a separate meeting with my Indian counterpart, as the two countries have moved from a dead-end to silver-lining," Jamali told The News daily in an interview published Saturday.

The arrival of India's national security advisor Birjesh Mishra in Islamabad set newspapers abuzz with anticipation of a meeting between Vajpayee and Musharraf on Tuesday after the summit concludes.
--AFP

Jamali hopeful of 'summit' with Vajpayee

Pakistan's Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali is expecting a "structured Indo-Pak summit" during Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit here for a regional South Asia summit.

"There is a possibility that I will have a separate meeting with my Indian counterpart, as the two countries have moved from a dead-end to silver-lining," Jamali told The News daily in an interview published Saturday.

He was quoted as saying that he expects "a structured Indo-Pak summit".

Jamali's expectations are higher than any expressed by other officials in the lead-up to Vajpayee's arrival yesterday.

"Ice has been broken with the recent spate of confidence-building measures initiated by Pakistan and India," the prime minister said.

Vajpayee is due to arrive in Islamabad on Saturday afternoon to attend the 12th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation or Saarc -- a grouping of seven nations.

Indian officials have been downplaying the possibility of talks between the Indian and Pakistani leaders on the sidelines of the summit, saying if at all a meeting takes place, it would be an informal interaction.

Pakistan on the other hand has been pressing for kick-starting high-level dialogue during the conference, saying it was an "occasion and opportunity".

"People are talking about a one-on-one meeting or otherwise but the meetings will take place ... we are in position to have a dialogue," Jamali said.

The mood for a bilateral meeting has been further strengthened with Saarc foreign ministers agreeing on a framework for turning the region into a free trade zone and measures to block terrorist funding.

The agreements were hailed by Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha as "historic and momentous".

A slew of reciprocal peace moves by the two South Asian nuclear rivals over the past month have eased tensions with a November 26 ceasefire holding along the disputed border in Kashmir.
--AFP

One-on-one meeting of Indo-Pak leaders likely

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will likely meet Pakistan's premier at the conclusion of a major South Asian summit in the highest-level talks between the two countries in more than two years, officials said Saturday.

But speculation that Vajpayee will hold a one-on-one meeting with Pakistan's powerful but embattled president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, for the first time since their July 2001 meeting in Agra, India, remained unconfirmed.

In either case, the meeting between top leaders of the nuclear-armed rivals on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit demonstrates a new relaxation in historically tense relations.

Indian and Pakistani officials have said on condition of anonymity that a meeting between Vajpayee and Pakistani Prime Minister Zafirullah Khan Jamali is all but a certainty. Any meeting with Musharraf is unlikely to be confirmed before it happens. Jamali was quoted as saying in Saturday's edition of the Pakistani daily The News that the countries had "moved from a dead-end."

Acrimony was deep at the last Saarc summit in Nepal in January 2001, where Vajpayee and Musharraf gingerly shook hands while a million of their troops faced each other on a war alert, a month after Islamic militants attacked the Indian Parliament. India claimed the attackers were backed by Pakistan, which denied it. Last year's Saarc summit was cancelled amid lingering acrimony.

But since April, relations have been on the upswing and a meeting between Vajpayee and Musharraf is at least a possibility. Speculation has been fuelled by the arrival of Brajesh Mishra, India's national security adviser and close Vajpayee aide, to the Pakistani capital on Friday, a day ahead of schedule. On Monday, Musharraf is hosting a retreat at his Islamabad home.

The seven leaders will remain together for six hours, away from the media glare, in a bid to encourage frank speaking, officials say. Pakistan is eager to hold direct talks with India to resolve the decades-old dispute over the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir and other disputes. India says Pakistan must show it must stop harbouring Islamic militants who attack Indian forces in Kashmir before negotiations on the territorial dispute can begin.
--AP

South Asia leaders fly into huge security net

A massive security net was thrust around Islamabad airport as South Asian leaders began arriving yesterday for a seven-nation summit in the wake of two attempts to kill President Pervez Musharraf.

The 12th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) runs from today to Tuesday.

The airport was closed for two days to all commercial flights and the 13km road to the city was flanked by gun-toting troops, police commandos and plain-clothes officers.

The Prime Ministers of Bhutan and Nepal, Lyonpo Jigme Yaeser Thinley and Surya Bahadur Thapa, landed just after 9:30 am (0130 GMT) to a brief ceremonial playing of their national anthems.

With sirens blaring, the leaders of the neighbouring Himalayan kingdoms were whisked off in waiting limousines escorted by a convoy of army jeeps fitted with machineguns. Surveillance helicopters flew overhead.

Armed soldiers holding sniffer dogs prowled through airport lounges as journalists were subjected to special checks by security officials who scanned their equipment with metal detectors.

Police have set up special barricades at key intersections and no one was allowed to stay on bridges along the road to Islamabad.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga are due later Saturday.

Vajpayee, making his first trip to Pakistan since 1999, will have his own 'Black Cat' commandos and travel in bulletproof cars specially airlifted from India, officials in New Delhi said.

Vajpayee's February 1999 trip to the eastern city of Lahore to launch a cross-border bus service was marred by massive protests by Islamists.

His national security adviser Brajesh Mishra flew into Islamabad on Friday, a day ahead of his scheduled arrival with Vajpayee.

Musharraf narrowly survived a suicide bomb attack on Christmas day in Rawalpindi neighbouring Islamabad when two attackers rammed explosives-laden vehicles into his convoy, killing 15 people and injuring 45 others.

The attack came just 11 days after he narrowly missed being killed in a bomb ambush as his convoy passed over a bridge.

Authorities have closed roads between the Convention Centre venue of the summit and two five star hotels where delegates are staying, banned protest rallies and closed the city's schools and colleges for the Sunday to Tuesday summit.

Around 10,000 police and paramilitary troops are manning security in the city dotted by dozens of check posts and troops are manning anti-aircraft guns in hills overlooking the city.
--AFP

Indian scribes feel the presence of 'Big Brother' in Pakistan

India-Pakistan relations may be on the upswing, but Pakistani intelligence agencies keep a close tab on the army of Indian journalists in Islamabad to cover the 12th SAARC summit.

If an Indian journalist leaves his hotel by car or taxi, one or more intelligence operatives are bound to follow him in their own vehicles.

The journalists are, however, spared the ordeal if the Indians' destination is known or if Indian diplomats or Pakistani officials are accompanying them.

The only two Indian journalists based here are used to the never-ending Pakistani surveillance. But clearly there are not enough Pakistani operatives to keep a tab on all the Indian scribes now in Islamabad.

On Friday night, a group of Indian journalists suggested to a Pakistani intelligence operative that they were prepared to ride with him in his official car so that they could save on taxi fare.

"Why don't you take us along," asked an Indian journalist, much to the operative's shock.

Not surprisingly, the offer was politely rejected.
--IANS

Both nations move from dead end to a silver lining: Jamali

Observing that the two countries have moved from a "dead-end to a silver lining" after a spate of confidence building measures initiated by India and Pakistan, Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali said that he expects a "structured" summit to take place with his Indian counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee during the three-day Saarc Summit beginning today.
 
"There is a possibility that I will have a separate meeting with my Indian counterpart Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as the two countries have moved from a dead-end to a silver lining," Jamali said adding that he expects a "structured Indo-Pak summit" during Vajpayee's stay in Islamabad.

"We have achieved some breakthroughs in different areas, and I am hopeful that a breakthrough on ticklish issues will also be achieved this time, if all goes according to my assessment," he said in an interview to daily The News ahead of Vajpayee's arrival here yesterday to take part in the Summit.

On the possibility of his one-on-one meeting with Vajpayee, he said "people are talking about one-on-one meeting or otherwise but the meetings will take place... we will be together in the conference and at the retreat arranged here at the Prime Minister's House and then informal meetings where every one will be free to talk on issues," Jamali, said.

"Ice has been broken with recent spate of confidence-building measures initiated and taken by Pakistan and India," he said.

Jamali said Vajpayee's consent to attend the Saarc Summit is in itself a "very positive development" and we have been able to come out of the deadlock.

The Pakistani Premier said resolution of Kashmir issue was possible, as he felt comfortable discussing the issue with the Indian Prime Minister.

"Prime Minister Vajpayee is a liberal and amiable man. I feel comfortable holding a dialogue with Prime Minister Vajpayee," he said.

Even though they have never met, but he did talk to him on telephone a couple of times, he said adding that Vajpayee was "considerate and receptive".

Hoping that a mutual dialogue would surely lead to an early and acceptable solution to all outstanding disputes and issues, including the Kashmir problem, he said, "A lot of time has already been wasted. I believe India and Pakistan have moved forward vis-à-vis bilateral relations recently. I will strive to take things ahead beyond this point."

Dubbing the Agra Summit as a failure, he said, "Since it did not work out, people naturally had their reservations. We wouldn't want a repetition of a failure. In the 21st century, I think a breakthrough is imperative for both the countries".

On the progress made by the two through various CBMs, he said, "India and Pakistan are able to make big breakthrough in various sectors... the hotlines have started functioning well, the bus service has already started and I am sure that bus travel between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad will take place as dialogue is on for it. Opening of Khokharapar and Munnobao road link and ultimately rail link are on the cards".

Jamali said there is a need to convince all concerned that war is not the solution and it is imperative to achieve breakthrough for which the first requirement is to hold composite dialogue.

"I hope that the countries concerned would come up with positive approach and this Saarc conference will bring about a good result."

He said measures taken by Pakistan reflected a positive approach and India has replied positively as well. So we are in a position to have a dialogue.

Terming the ceasefire announced by Pakistan in November last year as a "good omen," he said, "I think the ceasefire has proved a good omen and yielded results. The people are relieved, as all want peace, no-one wants war".

On the issue of terrorism and cross-border infiltration, Jamali said Pakistan has its own stand.

Claiming that Pakistan was a victim of terrorism and supported war on terrorism, he said, "We are not part of terrorism... we are victim of terrorism and we cannot support terrorism. One cannot stop talking based on conjunctures, as Pakistan is supportive of anti-terrorism actions worldwide."

He said Indians have their own frame of mind and free to talk on such issues. "We, however, opposed terrorism in all its manifestations."

On Kashmir, he said, people have their own priorities. "Some say it is terrorism, others say that it's a freedom movement," he said and referred to the additional protocol on terrorism.

Jamali said Pakistan would carefully consider all solutions in talks with India to discuss resolution of Kashmir issue.

"Unless composite dialogue takes place, the proposals are confined to oneself. One needs to hold talks on the proposals and no one is ready to disclose his cards before the dialogue is held," he said.

Jamali said he strongly believed that the Saarc Summit would prove fruitful in cooperation between the member-states in the social sector.

"Yes, we have plans for extending cooperation in the social sector. There will be additional good news about one or two issues before the Summit starts formally."

Thought both the countries need peace and cooperation, it depends on the leadership to take a positive future course.

"It depends on India and Pakistan how we mould ourselves in the light of the wishes of the people. For this, the first requirement was to hold a composite dialogue and I think that has to be done. We need to pave the way to get to the point where all disputes could be discussed and amicably resolved. This is how I see it politically," he said.
--PTI

Pakistan holds its fire on Kashmir

Public bonhomie, a bear hug, beatific smiles and Pakistani officials restrained on Kashmir -- this was the uncharacteristic mood that marked the normally short-fuse India-Pakistan official interactions ahead of the 12th regional South Asia summit starting today.

Though no formal dialogue is expected on the sidelines of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit, Islamabad is pressing for a bilateral meeting and to make the task easier for the Indians, the host nation seems to have set aside all its firepower on Kashmir.

"Please calm down," Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan told an agitated Pakistani journalist demanding to know why the Indians were not meeting the Pakistanis and why Kashmir was not discussed among foreign ministers.

Badgered by repeated queries on why Kashmir was not raised by Pakistan at the Saarc foreign ministers meeting Friday, Khan said: "Political disputes are not discussed by the Saarc countries. So all the issues that you are mentioning were not discussed by the council of ministers."

As the media continued to question Khan, the flustered spokesman said, "Let me remind you that this is a briefing on Saarc."

India and Pakistan seem determined to ensure that bilateral differences do not overwhelm the summit, at which contentious bilateral issues are traditionally banned by the association's charter.

"There is absolutely no difference of opinion on the issues that we have discussed so far," Sinha told reporters. "We have been able to establish consensus."

At past summits of the 18-year-old forum, Pakistan almost ritually raked the decades-old Kashmir dispute, charging India with forcefully occupying the scenic Himalayan region and presenting its resolution as key to economic progress within Saarc.

This line has been often repeated by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf at international fora where he and Vajpayee have shared the dais.

On most of these occasions, India has bitterly answered back -- accusing Pakistan of fomenting "cross-border terrorism" in the region.

But not only is there a change in the semantics in Islamabad, the two sides have actually agreed on a South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) agreement, a document that has been in limbo since the early nineties due to India-Pakistan differences.

The big question remains whether Prime Minister Vajpayee will meet President Musharraf, away from the courtesy dinner that the host is throwing for all the visiting leaders.
--AFP

12 th SAARC Summit preparatory FMs meet- Jan 3, 2004

SAARC FMs strike accord on SAFTA, terrorism & social charter

South Asia's foreign ministers have agreed on three key pacts to be signed at a landmark regional summit opening in Islamabad this weekend, India's Foreign Secretary Shashank said Friday.

"This development (agreement on three documents) would contribute in achieving even bilateral progress," Shashank told a briefing in the capital, striking a positive note on the eve of the seven-nation summit.

The accords were reached during meetings that began on a high note when Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri publicly embraced, raising hopes for cordiality between the rival states' leaders at their first encounter since near-war in 2002.

Agreements on free trade, terrorism and a social charter top the agenda of the 12th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"Three documents have been agreed," Shashank told a briefing after the foreign ministers' meeting, referred to as the Council of Ministers.

They include an expanded regional terrorism agreement, the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), and a social charter, he said.

"Contrary to the earlier feeling that there might be some delays, somehow considerable progress has been made during consultations of the Council of Ministers."

Shashank said agreement was reached on an "additional protocol" to an existing anti-terrorism agreement, referring to an extra clause on choking terrorist funding.

"Differences had come because of its definition and scope and the debates in the UN, OIC and other fora. It was possible to bring the focus on the main issue."

The SAFTA had also met problems in earlier negotiations, mainly over smaller countries' anxieties that they would need extra concessions to create a level playing field with India and Pakistan.

"However ... it was possible to get over most of the differences and an agreement has been reached even on SAFTA. The text of the document may have just been cleaned up," Shashank said.

Pakistani FM Kasuri was buoyant on prospects for the signing of SAFTA, which business leaders are hoping will transform the home of half the world's poor into an powerful trade bloc.

"I have just come back from the meeting where there was a great degree of warmth and candour and friendship," Kasuri said of the foreign ministers' meeting.

"If we proceed in the same manner in the second session (Saturday) maybe our heads will be, or the summit will be, ready to sign the SAFTA agreement."

A Pakistani official involved in the negotiations on the amended terrorism pact said it was directed at international terrorism, insisting it did not relate to the insurgency in disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan considers a struggle for self-determination and India considers terrorism.

"The drafting and approval of the anti-terrorism protocol at the delegate levels marks a step towards developing a coherent regional response for dealing with the threat of transnational terrorism," the official said.

A report on poverty alleviation was also approved, as was the establishment of a regional development bank, Shashank said.

It was also decided that India would prepare a report on a freedom-from-hunger project within the next three months.

SAARC heads of government will open the three-day summit, the forum's first in two years, on Sunday.

Observers are hoping the nuclear neighbours' leaders will meet for the first time since the tensions on the summit's sidelines.

Any meeting is expected to be informal and unlikely to touch on core bilateral issues, officials have said.

Shashank repeated his earlier remark that "no meetings have been fixed" but added a positive note.

"If we had not agreed on the additional protocol on terrorism it would have given a very sad connotation that even though we met after two years we could not sign."
--AFP

South Asia's FMs hammer out agreements ahead of landmark summit

South Asia's foreign ministers met in the Pakistani capital Friday to fine-tune draft pacts on free trade, terrorism and poverty alleviation to be signed at a landmark regional summit starting this weekend.

Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri embraced each other at the start of the Council of Ministers meeting, raising hopes for cordiality between the rival states' leaders at their first encounter since near-war in 2002.

Kasuri was buoyant on prospects for the signing of a regional free trade pact, which is hoped will transform the home of half the world's poor into an powerful trade bloc.

"I have just come back from the meeting where there was a great degree of warmth and candour and friendship," Kasuri said of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ministers meeting.

"If we proceed in the same manner in the second session (Saturday) maybe our heads will be, or the summit will be, ready to sign the SAFTA agreement. Of course it is for them."

The Council of Ministers of SAARC -- which groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- will conclude their deliberations on Saturday.

The South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) topped the agenda with a regional terror pact and an agreement on fighting poverty.

"The two-day conference is expected to iron out lingering differences over plans to create a free trade area in South Asia, as less developed members still have concerns," a foreign ministry official said.

The foreign ministers also discussed adding a clause on choking terrorist financing to an existing joint statement on terrorism.

The SAARC standing committee of top foreign ministry officials of the seven states approved a draft of the new text at preparatory meetings earlier this week.

A Pakistani official involved in the negotiations said it was directed at fighting international terrorism and did not relate to the insurgency in disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan considers a struggle for self-determination and India considers terrorism.

"The drafting and approval of the anti-terrorism protocol at the delegate levels marks a step towards developing a coherent regional response for dealing with the threat of transnational terrorism," the official said.

A draft SAARC declaration will also be discussed by the foreign ministers ahead of the three-day summit starting Sunday.

SAARC heads of government will open the three-day summit, the forum's first in two years, on Sunday.

India's refusal to attend the summit in Islamabad last year, at the height of near-war tensions with Pakistan, triggered its cancellation.

Observers are hoping the nuclear neighbours' leaders will meet for the first time since the tensions on the summit's sidelines.

Any meeting is expected to be informal and unlikely to touch on core bilateral issues, officials have said.
--AFP

Pakistan ready to meet India: Foreign minister

Pakistan is ready for bilateral meetings with rival India at this weekend's seven-nation regional summit, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said Friday in Islamabad.
 
"The ball is in India's court," Kasuri told reporters after attending a meeting of the foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, which with Pakistan make up the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

"It takes two to tango. You require a peace partner. We can't do it by ourselves."

The 12th SAARC summit opening this Sunday presents the first chance for Indian and Pakistani leaders to come face to face since nearly going to war in 2002 after a deadly attack on India's parliament. New Delhi blamed the December 2001 attack on Pakistan-backed militants.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is due to land in the capital Islamabad on Saturday for his first visit to Pakistan since his famous bus journey across the border in 1999.

He will have a chance to meet Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday night when Musharraf hosts a banquet for all visiting SAARC heads of state.

So far Vajpayee has not formally sought a separate meeting with Musharraf, as the five other visiting heads of state have done in accordance with SAARC summit traditions.

If the two do meet, formal discussions are not expected.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shashank, who uses only one name, repeated Friday that "no meetings have been fixed."

Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said in the lead-up to the summit that food and weather may be the most they will discuss.

"They will meet, they will sit together, they will talk... maybe talk about the weather or maybe about food... but a summit on India-Pakistan relations, our policy is that we want to start the talks from below, not from the top," Sinha said last month.
--AFP

Pakistan security clamp down for SAARC moves into top gear

Pakistan's massive security clampdown went into top gear here Friday for the forthcoming SAARC regional summit as army helicopters buzzed low over the capital, which resembled a city under siege.

Around 10,000 paramilitary troops and police are manning a heavy security blanket around normally sleepy Islamabad. Roadblocks have been erected at all entry points to the city where passers-by were being frisked and vehicles checked for bombs.

A so-called "red zone" covering a radius of around two kilometers (just over one mile) has been established around the two main hotels where heads of state and senior delegates are staying, and the Convention Centre where opening and closing ceremonies will be held.

"It is one of the most stringent security operations in the history of the country," said a senior security official in Islamabad.

Anti-aircraft guns and troops have been positioned in the Margalla hills overlooking the city while popular hiking and jogging tracks have been declared out of bounds.

All schools, colleges and religious seminaries will remain closed for a week.

Security for the SAARC summit became the top concern after two attempts to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in the adjoining city of Rawalpindi.

The last attack came on Christmas Day when two suicide bombers rammed their explosives-laden vehicles into Musharraf's motorcade, killing 16 people but missing the president.

Refusing to be scared off but taking no risks, India sent two bullet-proof limousines and a squad of its crack 'Black Cat' commandos for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, a Pakistani security official said.

Vajpayee is due to arrive Saturday evening aboard a special plane.

Officials said similar limousines had been arranged by Pakistan for the five other visiting heads of government.

Islamabad has been meticulously spruced up in a costly face-lift to the tune of nearly five million rupees (88,000 dolllars) while the police have been supplied with brand new vehicles, surveillance equipment and special electronic detectors.

Sniffer dogs trained in detecting explosives are prowling the gardens of hotels and conference venues and other sensitive places.

Around 500 journalists from around the world will converge on the city but authorities have banned tape recorders or mobile phones from the imposing Convention Center, where Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali will open the summit on Sunday morning.

"We have foolproof security for the major event," Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
--AFP

SAARC foreign secretaries conclude talks on agenda

Foreign secretaries from the seven South Asian countries Thursday concluded talks on formulating an agenda for the upcoming regional summit, including an additional protocol on combating terrorism, the chairman of the meeting said.

Pakistani foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar who chaired the two-day deliberations told reporters the text of the anti-terrorism protocol was cleared for consideration and approval by the council of ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

The foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are meeting on Friday and Saturday to finalise documents for the 12th SAARC summit to be held January 4-6 in Islamabad.

"We are very mindful of all our obligations for combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," Khokhar said in Islamabad.

The protocol, which specifically deals with preventing the flow of funds into the hands of terrorist groups and individuals, is aimed at strengthening and updating the existing SAARC convention on suppression of terrorism signed by the member states in 1987.

Khokhar said the meetings had not got down to the difficult task of defining terrorism, pointing out that even the United Nations was still seized of the matter without arriving at a definition.

"We are also very mindful of our vital interest," he said, apparently referring to Pakistan's opposition to attempts by New Delhi to equate what Islamabad calls a popular self determination movement in Indian-controlled Kashmir with terrorism.

He said the foreign secretary-level meeting prepared recommendations and documents on a social charter, proposed a South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and poverty alleviation in the light of suggestions made by an independent South Asian Commission.

He said the committee on economic cooperation would give special attention to the matters of transit facilities and transport infrastructure. "The SAARC foreign ministers will consider the feasibility of a South Asian Development Bank."

Khokhar noted that SAFTA was still on the negotiating table as there were some difficulties arising from points raised by some member countries.

He expressed the hope, however, that these difficulties would be resolved by the council of ministers for the summit to take decisions on the matter.
--AFP

Trade, terrorism and detente focus of South Asian summit

South Asian heads of state flock to Islamabad this weekend for a landmark summit that is expected to forge a new terror pact, pave the way for a free trade zone and bring the leaders of Pakistan and India together for the first time since peace overtures began eight months ago.

The seven nations of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- make up one of the world's most populous and poorest regions.

While a regional free trade pact -- which could lift commerce among member states from 4.0 to 60 percent of their total external trade -- tops the official agenda, all eyes will be on the forum's two giants.

Will or won't Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee make eye contact, shake hands, exchange greetings or actually chat is the region's biggest question in the run up to the Sunday to Tuesday summit.

The region's heads of state will be protected by a massive security blanket involving 10,000 police deployed to the usually sleepy capital, and armed soldiers perched on hills overlooking the tiny city.

The summit falls under the shadow of two assassination attemps within 11 days in December which narrowly missed killing President Pervez Musharraf.

As roadblocks are erected around Islamabad city council gardeners are busy planting palm trees, bougainvillea and daisies along the main boulevardes in a last-minute beautification.

Even a replica of the Ghauri nuclear missile, which held pride of place on a busy intersection for the past five years, has been removed.

The summit is the 12th in SAARC's 18-year existence and the first since January 2002. It was cancelled last year when India refused to send its leaders to Pakistan in the midst of fierce tensions over a December 2001 attack on its parliament, which it blamed on Pakistani-based militants.

Ruled off the agenda are bids by outside countries to join the forum, and a single South Asian currency. Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan said SAARC needed to grow stronger before opening doors, and dismissed the single currency proposal as premature, albeit positive.

"In principal I think it is a good thing to do," he told a press briefing Wednesday.
"All countries can work towards South Asian union but you have to create an atmosphere of trust, you have to resolve political disputes, you have to harmonize all financial commercial structures," Khan said.

Founded in 1985 to foster economic cooperation among the region's 1.4 billion consumers, SAARC's sluggishness in realizing its objectives has been blamed mainly on hostilities between India and Pakistan.

Vajpayee's decision to travel to Pakistan for the summit, eight months after his "hand of friendship" offer triggered a series of tie-mending gestures, has been hailed as a sign that SAARC could revive its dormant agenda.

"The significance of the upcoming summit is that it will revive the functioning of SAARC, which was stalled because the Indians were not ready to sit on a conference table with Pakistan," said Khalid Mahmud, chairman of the Institute of Regional Studies.

India, which forms 70 percent of the total area in South Asia and holds about two-thirds of the region's population, borders almost every SAARC nation.

"SAARC can make progress if India... settles disputes with others, including the Kashmir issue with its big neighbour Pakistan," former Pakistani ambassador to Thailand, Kamal Matinuddin said.

But SAARC is essentially an economic forum and its charter bans the raising of contentious issues in the summit.

While Islamabad and New Delhi have not ruled out a sideline chat between Vajpayee and Musharraf, there is still no public commitment.

Vajpayee is the only one among the six visiting heads of state who has not requested to meet Musharraf separately, Khan revealed Wednesday, as he urged India to follow what is a SAARC tradition.

"This is a very long-established tradition that usually the visiting delegations and their leaders call on the host head of state or government and I think that this tradition should be respected," he said.
--AFP

South Asia counts missed opportunities ahead of summit

South Asian nations formed a regional grouping in hopes of turning the home of half the world's poor into an economic powerhouse, but the two-decade old alliance has proved ineffectual thanks to bickering between India and Pakistan.

Frustrated by delays in even getting summits off the ground, the five smaller members of the grouping -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka -- are taking the bilateral route to boost trade.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) opens its 12th summit Sunday in the Pakistani capital Islamabad with a poor report card on progress since the group was initiated by Bangladesh and launched in 1985.

"We have not even completed a South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) although we are talking about a free trade agreement," a trade ministry official in Colombo said.

A full regional free trade agreement was to be in place by 2001 as agreed by SAARC leaders in 1998. However, the slow movement of SAARC prompted Sri Lanka to use the "fast-track" bilateral route to boost trade.

Sri Lanka's 1998 free trade agreement with India is seen as a catalyst for similar trade deals which are under negotiation with Pakistan and Bangladesh, trade officials here said.

However, with a thaw in relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, SAARC initiator Bangladesh hopes the bloc can now sit down to the serious business of improving the living standards of impoverished South Asians.

"We will try to focus on SAPTA as we feel a boost in regional trade would benefit the people of the region," the official looking over Dhaka's agenda for the summit told AFP in Dhaka.

He said warming ties between India and Pakistan have always been welcomed by Bangladesh, which wants to see the region move forward with its economic agenda.

"Indo-Pakistan squabbling has been the bane of SAARC," a Maldivian official said. "When giants fight, we get squashed."

Nepal which hosts the SAARC secretariat is hoping that the latest summit taking place one year behind schedule will focus on trade.

"We hope there will be a breakthrough in a number of issues in the area of trade liberalisation," Nepal's Special Envoy Bekh Bahadur Thapa told AFP in Kathmandu.

"We hope there will be at least a successful adoption of a visionary approach to the SAFTA and some resolutions."

The previous summit in Kathmandu saw SAARC leader after leader castigating the regional body for failing their 1.4 billion population which includes half the world's poor.

President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, of the low-lying Indian Ocean atoll nation of Maldives, who has attended all previous 11 summits and is due to attend the Islamabad meet too, has called for a frank assessment of progress.

"I believe that we are going through a traumatic phase in regional cooperation," Gayoom said at the last summit. "It will take a great deal of energy, persistence and commitment, indeed a Himalayan effort, to restart what has become a stalled process."

Since his remarks, there had been little progress towards boosting regional ties.
However, both India and Pakistan have been competing with each other to speak about the need for greater economic integration and even adopting a single South Asian currency following the EU model.

Gayoom poured cold water on a similar suggestion in 1997 when asked for his thoughts on a single currency.

"We already have a single currency," Gayoom said. "All the SAARC countries accept the American dollar."
--AFP

Indian FM in Islamabad for South Asia summit deliberations

Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha arrived here Thursday to participate in preparatory work for the 12th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), officials said in Islamabad.

He will attend a two day meeting of the council of ministers of the regional grouping, which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka.

The SAARC foreign ministers will start deliberations on Friday to finalise documents for the three-day summit opening here on Sunday amid tight security.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is scheduled to arrive Saturday.

South Asian leaders have big menu but little to digest

The seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), holding its 12th summit in Islamabad from Sunday, was founded in 1985 in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka to promote economic cooperation in the heavily militarized and poverty-ridden region.

The brainchild of former Bangladesh leader Ziaur Rahman, SAARC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

SAARC aims to promote peace, stability, amity and progress in the region. Key objectives are fostering economic cooperation and eradicating poverty in South Asia, home to one-fifth of the world's population and nearly half of its poor, according to World Bank figures.

But the 18-year forum has been hostage to hostility between its two giants -- nuclear rivals India and Pakistan -- and unable to realise its objectives.

Its charter bars discussion of bilateral and contentious issues. Decisions on vital issues are taken on the basis of consensus.

Summit meetings rotate annually among member states.

Domestic troubles or disagreements between members in the past have led to postponements of its conferences, most recently the January 2003 conference. India-Pakistan hostility caused its cancellation.

A SAARC programming committee, comprising senior foreign ministry officials, prepares summit agendas which are then approved by a standing committee involving foreign secretaries.

Their recommendations are then forwarded to the council of ministers comprising SAARC foreign ministers who finalize the summit agenda.

Currently the main focus is socio-economic issues.

A comprehensive report on poverty alleviation is expected to be submitted to January 4 to 6 summit for approval.

A Social Charter proposed in 1998 for social development and to promote universal respect for human rights is also likely to be approved at the summit.

Moves to create a free trade zone in South Asia is under intense negotiation. A draft South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) calls for trade of 5,600 goods under a concessional tariff structure of 10 to 25 percent.

If endorsed by the summit, the long-awaited pact could lead to the creation a powerful trade bloc of 1.4 billion consumers.

"SAARC is a viable enterprise, despite unresolved political undercurrents that occasionally jolted it," Pakistani Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar said.

"The SAARC process has seen many ups and downs. Its achievements are far below its immense potential."

Pakistan will be hosting the SAARC summit for the second time. It hosted the 1988 summit under then prime minister Benazir Bhutto. India at that time was represented by late premier Rajiv Gandhi.
--AFP

Chill seen easing between Vajpayee, Musharraf at regional summit

After two years of giving Pakistani leaders the cold shoulder, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will head this weekend to a regional summit as Islamabad's guest but India insists bilateral talks will focus on little more than the weather.

Heads of state or government of seven nations are due to meet in the Pakistani capital from January 4 to 6 for the 12th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

The meeting, besides its stated goal of building regional ties especially in trade, is being seen as an "ice-breaking" opportunity for Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, whose nations nearly went to war in 2002.

Since a deadly raid on the Indian parliament in December 2001 that India blamed on Pakistan-based militants, the leaders have bumped into each other five times at international meetings but have not held any official talks.

No official bilateral discussions are expected this time either with India rejecting talks until Islamabad ends its alleged backing for rebels fighting New Delhi's rule in Kashmir. Pakistan denies direct hand in the uprising but says it gives moral support to a Kashmiri "freedom struggle".

But with a slew of reciprocal peace initiatives in place, including a November 26 ceasefire in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, the atmosphere at the SAARC summit is expected to be much more cordial between the two leaders.

"They will meet, they will sit together, they will talk... maybe talk about the weather or maybe about food... but a summit on India-Pakistan relations, our policy is that we want to start the talks from below, not from the top," Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said.

Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan said Monday that the SAARC summit offered a "historic opportunity" to restart dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Over the past two years, the two leaders have studiously avoided each other at international meetings, which have provided platforms for both to press their grievances against the other.

Musharraf has raised the dispute over Kashmir which both nations claim and Vajpayee has accused Pakistan of sponsoring "cross-border terrorism".

The most dramatic encounter occurred a month after the attack on parliament, when Musharraf ended a speech at the last SAARC summit in Kathmandu by marching up to a surprised Vajpayee and shaking his hand, saying he was offering peace.

Vajpayee replied by saying gestures would not suffice and Pakistan needed to stop attacks by pro-Pakistan rebels on Indian targets.

Five months later, in Kazakhstan's economic capital Almaty, the two leaders crossed paths again but this time the air was even frostier as the two avoided even glancing in each other. The same behaviour was repeated in 2002 and 2003 at UN General Assembly sessions in New York.

SAARC summits, too, have become favoured arenas for the two sides to rake up bilateral differences. However, the coming meeting is less likely to see fireworks over Kashmir as both sides have declared they will not deviate from the SAARC agenda focused on regional issues.

Bilateral relations began to warm after Vajpayee offered a "hand of friendship" to Pakistan in April in a bid to end tensions between the countries which have gone to war three times, twice over Kashmir.

The two countries have since restored full diplomatic ties, restarted bus links and agreed to resume air and rail services in January.
--AFP

Powell calls Indian FM ahead of South Asian summit

US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday called Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha to offer a pep talk on relations with Pakistan, ahead of a key South Asian summit.

The January 4-6 summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will draw leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The meeting will be closely watched for the appearance in Islamabad of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, as tentative efforts continue to ease Indo-Pakistani tensions.

"The secretary previewed the upcoming SAARC summit and said we are pleased at the latest confidence-building measures that Pakistan and India have undertaken and encouraged them to continue in that direction," said a senior State Department official.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Vajpayee are due to come face to face at a banquet on January 4.

There are also hopes for high-level Indo-Pakistani talks on the sidelines of the summit.

Aggravated South Asian relations, which sparked fears of a new war over the disputed region of Kashmir, began to improve after Vajpayee offered of a "hand of friendship" to Pakistan in April.

The two countries have since restored full diplomatic ties, restarted bus links and also agreed to resume air and rail services next month which were severed after an attack by militants on the Indian parliament in December 2001.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, which is divided between the two and claimed in full by both.
--AFP

Students cast cynical eye on India-Pakistan peace prospects

While the leaders of India and Pakistan coat their words with cautious optimism ahead of a possible landmark meeting at a regional summit next week, students on both sides of the border are mixed in their predictions of peace for the nuclear neighbours.

"The recent peace process is doomed to end in disaster with shattered hopes, dreams and expectations," said Shoaib Jillani, a high-school student in Islamabad.

"Too often our hopes and desires for peace have been tested. False promises lure us into a sense of security and following death and disaster these hopes are brutally shattered."

After spending much of 2002 on the brink of a feared nuclear conflict, the rival South Asian giants have been slowly rebuilding bridges since April, when Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee vowed to work towards peace with Pakistan, eliciting similar pledges from over the border.

In the past seven months the two sides have reappointed ambassadors and are working towards a full revival of transport links. Cross-border buses are running, flights are set to resume New Year's Day and trains will soon follow.

Artists, religious leaders, MPs and intellectuals have been busy with goodwill exchange visits and prisoners from each side are being released weekly and sent back home over the border.

The next step is dialogue. A date is far from being set, but hopes are high for at least a handshake and possibly a chat on the sidelines of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit starting Sunday.

But over in New Delhi, students said peace would only come when their generation takes charge.

"I think it will only happen when our generation takes over because we are not emotionally passionate about the issue," said Deepti Srivastava, an undergraduate at New Delhi's Hindu College.

"We have nothing against Pakistan as such."

Shazia Shaukat, a student at Pakistan's Lahore Grammar School just 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the Indian border, said more interaction at a grassroots level was key to improving ties over the long-term.

"People-to-people contacts must increase so that both countries can build on the recent peace moves," she told AFP.

Such contacts should be at a youth level, according to Shazia's co-student Wajihuddin Ahmad.

"There should be debates and sports competitions between Indian and Pakistani students. Both countries should have exchange programs for students in information technology, medicine, engineering, science and the arts," he said.

"Scholarships should be offered to students from India to study in Pakistan and Pakistani students in India. This is the best way of promoting people to people contact."

New Delhi Hindu College undergraduate Madhur Panjwani, whose roots are in Pakistan with her family having migrated to India after partition, had little hope for peace, saying President Pervez Musharraf was untrustworthy.

"I don't trust him one bit. He has the power in Pakistan but the jihadis and extremists influence his actions."

New Delhi college student Anshul Chaitanya was equally cynical, seeing the current peace process as a token politically-driven gesture.

"I don't think it would go a long way because the two sides don't see eye to eye on the issue," he said.

"They (the two leaders) are not willing to openly discuss it. I think it is more of a political issue. Musharraf is doing all this to establish himself in the political scenario."
--AFP

Peace? Yes, but give cricket a chance too

As India's prime minister heads to Pakistan this weekend, millions of cricket lovers in both countries will pray nothing ruins India's first Test tour of Pakistan in 15 years slated for March.

They are aware that cricket, which evokes unrivalled passion on both sides of the border, has often been used by governments and political trouble-makers to score points.

Want to show official displeasure? Cancel a bilateral cricket tour. Want your names in the newspapers or news channels? Just vandalise a cricket pitch.

Activists in India and Pakistan have made careers out of staging protests over the game that is worshipped like a religion on the subcontinent.

The upcoming tour will be the mother of all tours, the ultimate rivalry in world cricket that will stop two nations in their tracks when Sachin Tendulkar takes guard against Shoaib Akhtar's thunderbolts.

The long-awaited visit was announced in October just two days after the Indian government lifted a three-year ban on bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan following a thaw in diplomatic relations.

Although the two teams have met in multi-nation events like the World Cup, India has not played a Test in Pakistan since 1989, while Pakistan last crossed the borders in early 1999 for three Test matches.

"The Indian tour will be the best thing to happen to world cricket in recent years," said Ehsan Mani, the Pakistan-born chartered accountant who heads the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Not only will the tour provide succour to the cash-strapped Pakistan Cricket Board, it will also lend greater credibility and structure to the ICC's 10-year Test calender that has been marred by cancelled tours.

The big bucks have begun to pour in even before the schedule for the March-April tour, comprising three Tests and between five to seven one-day internationals, has been finalised.

One Indian cricket official predicted a turnover of around 20 million dollars - a vast increase from the five-million dollar mark touted for other high-profile series like Australia versus England.

"It is going to be jackpot series, and from my reading of the pulse of the international television rights market, the series is going to be worth 20 million dollars," the official said.

Indo-Pakistan cricket is more than just a game - or even commerce.

It could boost political relations between the old foes, like the ping-pong diplomacy in 1971 which gave a new fillip to ties between the United States and China.

Former Pakistan president General Zia-ul-Haq tried his own version of the ping-pong diplomacy when he flew to India in 1986 to attend a Test match in Jaipur despite tense relations with the Rajiv Gandhi regime.

It cleared the war clouds hovering near the borders.

Cricket ties between India and Pakistan have been both dramatic and rivetting, but they have also swung from the sublime to the ridiculous.

In 1987, Pakistan captain Imran Khan ordered his players to field with helmets on after they were pelted with rubbish during the Ahmedabad Test.

When India toured Pakistan in 1989, its captain Kris Srikkanth was accosted on the field and had his shirt ripped by a spectator during the Karachi Test.

Ten years later, Pakistan beat India in front of empty stands at the 100,000-seater Eden Gardens in Calcutta after crowd violence forced police to clear the galleries.

Yet, the two warring nations joined hands to host two World Cup tournaments in 1987 and 1996 and formed a strong united block at the ICC to break the Australia-England-New Zealand nexus.

During the 1996 World Cup when Australia and the West Indies refused to play in Sri Lanka due to security fears, a joint India-Pakistan team travelled to Colombo for a friendly match to show all was well.

Three years later, a packed Chepauk stadium in Madras gave Wasim Akram's men a heart-warming ovation as they ran a lap of honour after defeating India by 12 runs in the first Test of the 1999 series.

"We play the best cricket against each other," Akram said. "But we should play more against each other so that the tension is less."

If only the politicians and the professional spoilsports can bring themselves to stay away.
--AFP

Along now quiet border, Kashmiris pin hope on regional summit

Kashmiris living along the disputed border between India and Pakistan will be watching every move of the two countries' leaders next week, aware the regional summit's fate could mirror their own.

"We are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst," said Abdul Rashid in Teetwal.

His village on the Line of Control which divides Kashmir has been silent since India and Pakistan entered a November 26 ceasefire, one of a slew of peace-building moves between the rival neighbours.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will pay his first visit to Pakistan in five years for the seven-nation South Asian summit, although New Delhi insists
there will be no bilateral negotiations.

"There is hope that leaders of the two countries might talk on the side of the summit at least to prolong peace on the borders," Rashid said.

"Everyone is hopeful something good will emerge out of the summit," he said.
But there are fears, too.

The last summit between Vajpayee and Musharraf, in the Indian city of Agra in July 2001, was also preceded by a lull in border scuffles between Indian and Pakistani troops and an easing of separatist violence inside the province.

"Once the summit failed our lives were turned into hell," said Rashid's neighbour Imtiaz Hussain.

After the Agra summit deadlocked over Kashmir, the two countries engaged in intense border exchanges, resulting in many civilian casualties and destroying property on both sides, and rebels launched a flurry of attacks.

The white-bearded Rashid lives just across from Chilyana village in the Pakistani sector of Kashmir, where the concrete homes are full of his cousins, aunts and nephews.

But he has failed to get permission to see his relatives on the other side of the 30-meter (-yard) wide Kishenganga river.

"If India and Pakistan fail to talk it will drown our dreams of permanent peace on the borders," Rashid said.

Zameer Ahmed, 38, a shopkeeper, is more lucky. He was able four years ago to visit his brother, who strayed into Pakistani Kashmir in 1973 and has since settled in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad.

But to get there, Ahmed first had to go to the summer capital Srinagar, then to New Delhi for travel documents, then back up north to Wagah, the only legal crossing between India and Pakistan -- before the onward journey to Rawalpindi.

"If restrictions are lifted I can reach my brother in just a few hours," he said, next to a bridge over the Kishenganga destroyed during Kashmir's division in 1947.

On Wednesday, India proposed to Pakistan holding talks on starting two new bus services between the countries, including in the Kashmir region, but said the discussions should be held after the SAARc summit.

"I may not be able to meet my relatives but now I have a feeling they are doing well and are happy with the ceasefire," said Idress Ahmed, 29.

On both sides of the border, shops now bustle and crowded buses ply freely, when just over a month ago residents would avoid going out if they did not have to.

"For the first time in over a decade we have been living without fear of incoming shells hitting our homes," said Nissar Ahmed, 60, as he tended a farm with his two daughters.

"Now everyone is praying for the success of the summit in Islamabad. They may not talk about Kashmir but it can create a good atmosphere for talks," he said.
But he added: "Everyone is worried that if the two countries fail to come closer during the summit we may see an end of the truce and the beginning of another trauma."
--AFP

India absent from list of Musharraf well-wishers

India is the only South Asian state which has not sought a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of next week's regional summit in Pakistan, an official said Wednesday in Islamabad.

The leaders of the seven nations grouped under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will gather in Islamabad from Sunday for their first annual summit since 2002.

Five of the six visiting heads of state have asked to meet Musharraf one-on-one, but despite high hopes for the first meeting between SAARC's rival giants in over two years, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is, so far, not among them.

"We have received requests for meetings from five heads of state and governments of SAARC nations, these include Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka," foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan said.

He urged Vajpayee to break the ice.

"This is a very long-established tradition that usually the visiting delegations and their leaders call on the host head of state or government and I think that this tradition should be respected," he told a special press briefing ahead of the three-day SAARC summit.

"These meetings are held on the sidelines of the multilateral conferences."

The leaders of both sides have hinted at a possible sideline meeting between Vajpayee and either Musharraf or Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali or both, but there has been no public commitment.

The two last met formally in July 2001 in India's Agra city. Their summit failed to make any headway in the neighbours' decades-old territorial dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

At the last SAARC summit in Kathmandu in January 2002 Musharraf surprised observers by shaking Vajpayee's hands but there were no concrete talks.
--AFP