India, Pak Agree to Cut Down the RhetoricIndia and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed to cut down on the political rhetoric to give their summit a chance. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf talked about this on the phone.Musharraf was yet to be sworn in as President when Vajpayee made the call at 10.45 a.m. But New Delhi, which had invited a head of government for talks, is already preparing to welcome a head of state. It was Musharraf who brought up the bit about rhetorics during the five-minute conversation. According to a foreign office spokesperson, the General said it would be good if the political rhetoric on both sides could be toned down before the summit since it had an impact on ``political forces in both countries.'' Vajpayee agreed with the sentiment. The spokesperson said no specific remarks was discussed. But the conversation happened to take place a day after Vajpayee's own remarks. The Prime Minister had said in Mumbai that India will talk about Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir as well during the summit. And he had reiterated that India regarded Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of the country. Vajpayee's remarks was, however, latest in a series of pre-summit verbal skirmishes. Pakistan has been harping on Kashmir being the ``core'' issue, and there have been suggestions that it was up to India to show ``flexibility.'' |
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