No smiles at UN photo-op

There was no agreement on Siachen as was widely expected but the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in New York, that began with being "strained" (says Pakistan) did yield a joint statement: that both countries would carry forward the peace process.

Much to Pakistan's dissatisfaction, there were no specific gestures in the statement, on troop withdrawal from Kashmir, for instance. India said it needed to get better intelligence on infiltration before it could take such a step.

Singh and Musharraf spent a lot of time with each other. They met for four-and-half hours at New York's Palace Hotel. They began at 8 pm and went on late into the night, stopping only with dinner.

National security advisors, foreign ministers and foreign office officials from both nations were present during the talks. Just six people from either side were at the dinner.

After their meeting, Musharraf read out a brief joint statement saying they had agreed not to allow terrorism to hinder the peace process. "India and Pakistan have welcomed the progress made so far and will continue to work towards a solution for all outstanding issues," the joint statement said.

It did not make any reference to India's demand that Pakistan should end cross-border terrorism or to Pakistan's demand on reduction of troops in Jammu and Kashmir. It talked about the progress on trade, people-to-people contacts and release of prisoners.

According to the Dawn newspaper from Karachi, at a briefing, hours before the dinner, Pakistan Ambassador to the US Jehangir Karamat said Musharraf would ask the Indian Prime Minister to withdraw troops from pre-designated areas in Kashmir.

"The President has already discussed this proposal with US President George W Bush," Karamat was quoted as saying while briefing journalists.

"We are not asking for demilitarisation (but) only for a withdrawal," said the envoy. He later explained that troops could not be resent to a demilitarised zone while in the proposed arrangement "India can redeploy troops to these areas if the situation warrants."

'The proposal is a message for India and the US as well," Karamat was quoted as saying. Washington had all along been facilitating the peace process between Islamabad and New Delhi, he is reported to have said.

But whatever Musharraf had been trying to achieve, it was clear from the statements after the meeting (and the joint statement) that he failed to reach the target.

Singh's account of the meeting was: "We have covered extensively all aspects of our bilateral relationship and this statement brings out the outcome of our meeting. I am satisfied with the outcome of the meeting."

Although there was speculation that Musharraf's earlier public speech in the UN General Assembly, where once again he referred to Palestine and Kashmir in the same breath, went through changes, there was little that was new in his speech.

"India and Pakistan should not remain trapped by hate and history," he said in General Assembly, adding the solution should be acceptable to Islamabad, New Delhi and "above all the people of Kashmir" and emphasised the need for implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

This gave lie to the Pakistani claim that Musharraf had given up talking about plebiscite on Kashmir and was therefore taking a softer line in the larger interest of peace.

He also opposed the expansion of permanent members of the UN Security Council. It should be expanded 'not by adding a new elite but by reflecting more fully the entire spectrum of UN membership and this can only be achieved through patient dialogue and general consensus', he said in his speech.

All this obviously cast its shadow at the dinner meeting, hence the pallid joint statement. However, Musharraf invited Singh to Pakistan and said Singh accepted his invitation.