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Pak withdrawal seems imminent

The end to the two-month-old conflict in Kargil appears imminent following an assurance by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief to United States President Bill Clinton that he would soon withdraw his forces, including the Mujahideen, who crossed into Indian Kashmir, setting off a crisis the region.

US officials, who briefed the press after a three-hour meeting between President Clinton and the visiting Pakistani prime minister, gave this indication, saying, ''Our understanding is that there will be withdrawal of the forces now.''

They, however, declined to spell out exactly when the forces would pull out. ''I think it is safe to say that the president and the prime minister, both, have a great sense of urgency here, and that we would like to see positive steps in the very near future,'' one of the officials said.

Another indication of the possible de-escalation of the crisis is the announcement by Pakistan that it would ''appeal and use its influence'' to ask the Mujahideen to put an end to their struggle and vacate their positions in the Kargil area.

Pakistani foreign office spokesman Tariq Altaf, immediately after the Clinton-Sharief meeting, told newsmen that the Mujahideen had achieved their objective of focussing international attention to the ''core issue of Kashmir.''

''We are issuing this appeal because fighting has involved a lot many casualties, resulting in a dangerous situation,'' he added.

An 18-line joint statement, issued after the Clinton-Sharief meeting, said they agreed that it was vital for the peace of South Asia that ''the Line of Control in Kashmir be respected by both parties, in accordance with their 1972 Shimla agreement.''

It was also agreed between them that ''concrete steps'' would be taken for the restoration of the LoC.

When asked to spell out the ''concrete steps'' proposed to be taken to restore peace on the LoC, the official said, ''our position has been that the forces that are across the LoC need to return to the Pakistani side.''

During a break in the meeting, Clinton called Prime Minister A B Vajpayee in New Delhi and talked to him for ten minutes. He gave him ''an interim readout on where we were,'' in the talks with Sharief, the official said.

Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger phoned Vajpayee's advisor Brajesh Mishra in New Delhi ''to brief him on the statement and give him a recap of what has happened here today (Sunday),'' the official added.

Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott is expected to call External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, most probably today, to apprise him of the talks with Sharief who was accompanied by Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz.

Asked about the reaction of Vajpayee to the joint statement, the official said, ''I think I will let the Indian prime minister characterise his view himself.''

The official made it clear that the statement envisaged only the withdrawal by Pakistan forces who had crossed over to the Indian side of the LoC.

He parried the question whether the Pakistani prime minister had had the influence to get the extremists out of Kashmir.

When a Pakistani journalist asked as to why there was no reference to the 1948 United Nations Security Council Resolution which called for a plebiscite in Kashmir in the joint statement which took due notice of Shimla and Lahore agreements, the officials said they did not want to go into the history of the matter.

The statement said Clinton stressed that the best way for the two countries to settle their differences, including Kashmir, was to continue the direct talks that began when their prime ministers met in Lahore in February.

UNI

The Kargil Crisis

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