NEW DELHI, 7 January 2004 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Islamabad on Monday has been hailed by UN, US, Russia, China and Britain.
Describing the meeting as “another important” step in continuing efforts for normalization of Indo-Pakistan ties, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed the hope that it would give a “new impetus to serious and sustained dialogue” and resolve the outstanding issues between the two countries. In a statement, Annan also welcomed the meeting between Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.
US State Department deputy spokesman A.J. Adam Ereli said in Washington: “We warmly welcome these meetings and we hope that they will lead to further engagement and dialogue between India and Pakistan.” Describing the two leaders’ meeting in itself as “important and noteworthy,” he said that US was in contact with both countries, “and we certainly encourage them to continue this process.”
Viewing the Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting as “positive,” Russian Foreign Ministry expressed the hope in a statement that it would become the starting point for resumption of full-scale dialogue between India and Pakistan on the basis of Simla accord and Lahore agreement.
In London, the meeting was described as a “positive sign” by a spokeswoman of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
China welcomed and appreciated the efforts made by the leadership of the two countries to improve bilateral ties, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in Beijing.
In India, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani described the meeting as satisfactory. Declining to make elaborate remarks, Advani said: “From available indications, it appears the meeting was satisfactory and up to expectation.”
Hailing the meeting as “historic,” the ruling party in Jammu and Kashmir welcomed Vajpayee’s stand that he was ready to talk and discuss the Kashmir issue with Pakistan at length. In a statement, People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti described the meeting as a “bold step” to remove hurdles in an amicable resolution of the five-decade-old problem that has been threatening peace in South Asia.
“Let us hope this opportunity will not be missed and a formal peace dialogue will follow soon,” she said. While separatist leaders welcomed the move, they said that they would not accept a bilateral solution to the Kashmir problem.
