Vajpayee, Musharraf Leave Almaty with No Agreement

05/06/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: A Number of Indian Troops & 2 Pakistani Civilians Killed in Cross Border Shelling||Musharraf Waited in Vain For Vajpayee To Reciprocate a Handshake He Initiated at a Previous Asian Summit||Moscow & Washington Speak of Positive Signals From Both Sides|| Annan Meets Putin in Moscow Wednesday|| STORY: Intense negotiations on the fringes of an Asian security summit failed to resolve a military stand-off between India and Pakistan, and their leaders were leaving the Kazakh capital without so much as a handshake.

The feuding neighbors have massed a million troops on their border, and Pakistan said that persistent cross-border shelling in disputed Kashmir had killed a number of Indian troops and two Pakistani civilians on Tuesday.

LEADERS LEAVE ALMATY WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A HANDSHAKE

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was due to leave Almaty early on Wednesday after failing to agree to a face-to-face meeting with his Pakistani counterpart, President Pervez Musharraf, who left for home on Tuesday.
"No, I didn't meet him. And no, I didn't shake hands with him," Musharraf said earlier. "I shook hands with him once before... Maybe I was waiting for him to shake hands with me this time."

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who shuttled between the leaders of the two nuclear-armed states, left Almaty on Tuesday. (Read photo caption)

Putin met the two leaders separately, saying afterwards they had sent "very positive signals" but still differed on preconditions for talks. Musharraf has offered to meet Vajpayee, but India says it first wants Pakistan to do more to crack down on Islamic militants.

Musharraf said he had accepted an invitation to Moscow, but it remains unclear whether Moscow will be playing host to summit talks between the two neighbors.

The Pakistani leader said he had expected Putin to invite Vajpayee to Moscow too, but the Russian president did not mention an invitation to the Indian prime minister.

"So far as the contact between the two leaders of the Russian Federation and India are concerned, the next meeting is going to be in Delhi toward the end of the year," said Brajesh Mishra, Vajpayee's principal secretary and national security adviser.

U.S. SEES PAKISTAN ACTION

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States had "some indications" that Pakistan was acting to stop Muslim militants entering Indian-run Kashmir.

"But I'd say it's too early for us to say that there's been a cessation of infiltration," he told a news briefing on Tuesday.

In Moscow on a three-day visit, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was in constant contact with the two leaders.
"I'm in touch with the leaders of both countries, India and Pakistan, and have spoken to them as recently as yesterday," he said on Tuesday.

"I am hopeful that the discussion in Almaty will make a positive contribution and we are coordinating our efforts. I would hope that none of us is contemplating a nuclear war," said Annan, who is due to meet Putin on Wednesday.

India is estimated to have 100 to 150 nuclear warheads and Pakistan 25 to 50. Last month, Pakistan tested missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads deep into India.

PHOTO CAPTION

Russian President Vladimir Putin invites India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to negotiations in Almaty, after the security summit, June 4, 2002. Putin told Vajpayee that Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf had offered 'serious positive signals' to end the tense military standoff on the subcontinent. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)