The soldier scores

At least in the short term, the summit was a big success for Gen. Musharraf, writes B. Muralidhar Reddy.

WAS THE Agra summit a success or failure from the Pakistani point of view? Opinion is divided. It would be hasty at this juncture to arrive at any conclusion on all the drama which preceded and followed the journey of the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to India.

``It was Kargil-II'' screamed a headline in one of the local papers. ``It was Vajpayee's innings'' read another in the Dawn. The two opinions represent the divergent viewpoints in Pakistan on the General's ``Bharat yatra''. The truth is perhaps somewhere in between. Any objective analysis of the Agra summit and Pakistan would have to be guided by three factors. What has it meant on the domestic front? Has it helped further the effort towards normalisation of India-Pakistan ties? And what does it mean in the eyes of the rest of the world?

There can be no doubt that, at least in the short-term, the summit was a big success for Gen. Musharraf personally on all the three counts. One will have to wait and see how long it will remain so given the enormous challenges confronted by the military regime particularly on the domestic front.

Right from the hour that the word was out from New Delhi (the evening of May 23) that the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, had decided to invite him to visit India for a peace dialogue, Gen. Musharraf has derived the maximum possible benefit.

He converted the opportunity to legitimise his own regime in Pakistan and went on to consolidate his position. Look at the manner in which he grabbed the office of President. There was a little murmur here and there but all that got drowned in the hype and hoopla over the Indian invitation. He went on a massive public relations drive in the name of seeking the views of a cross section of Pakistani society on the summit.

The man who breathed fire against the political class for all that ails Pakistani society forced it to endorse his takeover as President. Those who boycotted the so-called all-party meet, the Pakistan Muslim League led by Mr. Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan People's Party led by Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, stood isolated.

By his repeated assertions that he would not budge an inch from the known Pakistani position on Kashmir, he won the backing of virtually the entire spectrum of public opinion.

He manipulated the invitation for securing the much-needed legitimacy on the home front. The degree of success achieved by the General can be gauged from the fact that the chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Quazi Hussain Ahmed, turned into a friend overnight. Even the extremist militant outfit, Lashkar, was all kudos for his performance at Agra.

The Agra summit has contributed its bit to normalising ties between India and Pakistan. They are back on talking terms. For the first time, an army of 130 Pakistani journalists was on Indian soil for almost a week. No mean achievement considering the animosity between the two, particularly in the post-Kargil phase.

Notwithstanding all the rhetoric and bad blood on account of various developments during the visit, it is clear that India and Pakistan had succeeded in covering `valuable ground' on issues of mutual concern in the course of the summit.

Mr. Vajpayee has accepted the invitation to visit Islamabad and Mr. Jaswant Singh has been positive to an invitation from his counterpart to travel to Pakistan.

No doubt the contentious issues between the two sides remain to be sorted out. Pakistan was not willing to address the main issue of India, cross-border terrorism, and India was not prepared to concede the primacy of Kashmir in the manner Islamabad wanted. Perhaps it was this gulf more than anything else that made it difficult to finalise a joint declaration.

But all certainly is not lost. This is evident from the series of announcements from both New Delhi and Islamabad in the post- summit period. The Musharraf Government has compulsions, much more than India, to keep up the efforts for a serious dialogue with India. The military Government faces much greater pressure than India from the international community to work for peace in the subcontinent.

The managers of the military establishment were quite happy with the press conference addressed by the Foreign Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, on Tuesday morning wherein he had acknowledged that Mr. Vajpayee and Gen. Musharraf had traversed enough ground in their one-to-one meetings.

The positive spin given by the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdul Sattar, hours later appears to have been influenced by the tone and tenor adopted by Mr. Jaswant Singh.

Mr. Sattar in fact went much beyond what his Indian counterpart had to say about the Agra summit. He not only talked about how close both sides came to an agreement on all major issues of concern but also hinted at the possibility of an agreement when the two leaders are expected to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.

The people of India and Pakistan as much as the rest of the world will be happy as long as both sides continue talking. And both sides are committed to the process of continuing the dialogue. What more could have been expected from Agra?

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