Sharif, Benazir blame Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JULY 18. Two former Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif and Ms. Benazir Bhutto, who are currently in exile, have termed the Agra Summit as a failure and held the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, responsible.

The Pakistan Muslim League, led by Mr. Sharif, and the Pakistan People's Party, led by Ms. Bhutto, had boycotted the all-party meet convened by Gen. Musharraf in the run up to the summit, saying he had no mandate to visit India and negotiate on behalf of Pakistan.

While Ms. Bhutto has been questioning the legitimacy of Gen. Musharraf in travelling to New Delhi, it is for the first time that Mr. Sharif has come out in the open. In a strongly- worded statement made available to a leading Pakistani daily, The News, Mr. Sharif dubbed the outcome of Gen. Musharraf's visit as a ``political gimmick and an absolute disappointment''. He said the ``failure'' of the summit was due to the non-representative character of the Pakistani military ruler.

``The failure was bound to happen and we warned about it several times. Gen. Musharraf did not hold any representation of the Pakistani nation and the behaviour of the Indian Government clearly demonstrated this,'' the statement said.

Mr. Sharif said that ``during his visit to New Delhi, the focus of attention was on his ancestral home and in Agra, it was the Taj Mahal. The only thing the nation got from this visit was pictures of Gen. Musharraf and his wife under the shadow of the Taj. Trying different Indian foods, reviving some childhood memories, strolling at the Taj and talking to the international press does not address the real issues.''

``Failure to issue a (joint) statement or signing a declaration, reminds us of the time when the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, came and signed the historic Lahore Declaration with Mr. Sharif. That meaningful summit addressed the major issues while highlighting the Kashmir problem. Now Gen. Musharraf stands with a failed summit in which he could not even manage to get a word out of Mr. Vajpayee's mouth about Kashmir.''

In a lengthy article in the same paper, Ms. Bhutto said that the summit failed due to ``key errors'' made by Gen. Musharraf. ``He made key errors in this trip. He failed to build an internal consensus of legitimate political forces. He went to India on the props of Pakistan's extremist parties, posing with them before his visit. Gen. Musharraf relied on an inefficient team, which failed him previously. Had they given good advice, he would have stayed an extra day, matching Indian patience with greater patience of his own. Exhausting the other side is a pretty elementary diplomatic trick. Instead he left in a huff.'' Ms. Bhutto alleged that India knew Islamabad was keen on a declaration, and supported her argument on the basis of a claim made by Gulf News. ``This is extraordinary. It is stunning. It is little wonder that the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, wanted another day of talks to put in his wish list, given the accommodation offered by Islamabad. It is also a case study of why Generals should look after borders and let politicians deal with diplomacy.''

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