June 20, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

Musharraf to attend Pakistan-India summit as Pakistan president

LONDON, June 20, Graphic News: Pakistan and India have announced that the first summit between the two arch-rivals in more than two years -- due to address their long-running dispute over Kashmir -- will be held from July 14 to 16 in India.

And in a surprise move, senior officials in Pakistan say the countryÕs military leader, General Pervez Musharraf is to be sworn in as president. Musharraf will take over from PakistanÕs figurehead president Rafiq Tarar.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee invited Musharraf to Delhi last month. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry says that besides New Delhi, Musharraf will also visit the nearby Taj Mahal city of Agra and the northern city of Ajmer, site of a famous Muslim shrine.

Musharraf said in a discussion on state television on Friday that he would go with an open mind to seek a Ònew beginningÓ with India, and that the Kashmir dispute -- where a rebellion has raged against Indian rule for 11 years -- would top the agenda.

Vajpayee told reporters: ÒI have invited General Musharraf with the hope that a proper climate will be created for resolving issues between the countries, and I am still hopeful.Ó

India holds roughly 45 percent of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan holds a third, which it refers to as Azad (Free) Kashmir, while India calls it Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. China controls the rest. 

The last summit talks between the two sides were held in February 1999, when Vajpayee made a historic bus trip to the Pakistani city of Lahore, and agreed with the then-premier of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, to speed up the peace process.

But the process was stalled by heavy border fighting in Kashmir later in the summer that brought the two countries to the brink of what would have been their third war over Kashmir.

Pakistan and India sent shock waves around the world when they set off nuclear tests three years ago.

Musharraf seized power in October 1999 in a bloodless coup. He has promised to restore civilian rule when a mandate given to him by the supreme court expires in October 2002.
/ENDS
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press