Musharraf blames 'hardliners' for summit failure

ISLAMABAD, JULY 26. The Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has said India and Pakistan could not sign a joint declaration at the Agra summit due to ``split'' in the ``ranks'' of the Indian Government and blamed Indian ``hardliners'' for this, media reports said today.

``Both sides had come close to signing the Agra declaration but the Indians, particularly the hardliners, were not ready to give peace a chance,'' he was quoted as saying at a joint meeting of his Cabinet and the National Security Council (NSC) on July 18, a day after his return from Agra.

``It was apparent that there was a split in their ranks,'' the English daily, Dawn, quoted him as saying. Quoting authentic Cabinet sources the daily said the Mr. Musharraf informed the meeting that the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, and the Foreign Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, were flexible in their approach.

Gen. Musharraf, according to the daily, said Mr. Vajpayee definitely wanted the peace process to go on but the hardliners thwarted the signing of declaration although eight out of nine items in the draft joint declaration had been agreed upon. Gen. Musharraf at his press conference on July 20 did not name the Indian hardliners for ``thwarting'' the peace process but appealed to the moderates on both sides to play their role to have peace and stability in the region.

- PTI

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