B.K. Bangash/AP.
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PERVEZ MUSHARRAF
Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, has had an illustrious military career
as a commando, corps commander, general and chief of army staff. One thing he
has never been is a diplomat. But he has said for more than a year that he is
willing to start a dialogue with India's Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajapyee,
at any time and any place. Facing a formidable array of domestic challenges,
including a battered economy, rampant poverty, corruption and discredited
institutions -- not to mention Pakistan's powerful conservative religious lobby
-- the 57-year-old general is eager for international legitimacy, something the
Agra summit can help give him.
A moderate Muslim, Musharraf took over Pakistan in a bloodless coup in October
1999, a year after being named army chief by the Prime Minister he overthrew,
Nawaz Sharif. The coup was condemned internationally, and India did its best to
brand Musharraf a pariah. (Musharraf was in charge of the army during Pakistan's
1999 incursion into the Kargil heights of Indian-held Kashmir.) But Musharraf
pragmatically authorized unilateral cease-fires along the Line of Control, the
de facto border, which helped pave the way for the current peace process.
Musharraf, who was born in New Delhi before the partition that carved two
independent nations out of British India in 1947, has said that he wants to take
Pakistan in a progressive, forward-looking direction. He has made no secret of
his contempt for the way Pakistan's elected Prime Ministers failed to improve
conditions in the country. His own ambitious agenda includes economic revival,
devolution of power, and anti-corruption efforts. According to a Supreme Court
ruling, he must hold national elections and hand over power to a democratically
elected Prime Minister by October 2002. Now that Musharraf has also named
himself President, it is clear that he intends to stay around longer than that.
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POLLS
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Do you expect the summit to lead to any substantial measures toward a lasting
peace in the region?
Has India made too many concessions to Pakistan in the runup to the summit?
Has Pakistan made too many concessions to India in the runup to the summit?
Do you think India and Pakistan can resolve the Kashmir conflict without the help of a neutral mediator?
Should the existing Line of Control in Kashmir be made a permanent border?
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