Cabinet to decide summit agenda: Pak. military

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 9. The two-day conference of the Pakistan military's Corps Commanders, which concluded here today, chose to be coy on the summit meeting between the Pakistan military ruler and Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The second day was devoted to the achievements of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) which was set up by the Musharraf Government within weeks of the military takeover in October 1999.

On Friday, the commanders discussed Mr. Vajpayee's invitation to Gen. Musharraf to visit New Delhi for peace talks but gave no details on the nature of deliberations.

The chief military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Rashid Quereshi, dismissed reports in a section of the Pakistani media today that the commanders had given a green signal to Gen. Musharraf to travel with authority to discuss whatever he deemed necessary.

``It is total nonsense. The question will be discussed in the Cabinet. It is not the job of the Corps Commanders to set the agenda for the summit meeting,'' he said.

A statement at the end of the first day of the conference, presided over by Gen. Musharraf, had merely stated that ``discussion also took place on India's positive response to Pakistan's desire for a dialogue on the issue of Kashmir.'' It was, therefore, presumed that the General had taken the commanders into confidence about the stand he would adopt on Kashmir and on whether Islamabad should agree to sort out its differences with New Delhi on other `outstanding issues,' irrespective of the progress on the Kashmir front.

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