PAKISTAN: LAHORE DECLARATION SIGNED WITH INDIA

(21 Feb 1999) English/Nat

Pakistan and India have promised to build an atmosphere of mutual trust and cooperation following decades of tension between the two countries.

The Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers signed a declaration promising to try to reduce the risk of nuclear war and promote peace and stability in a historically volatile region.

Both leaders also promised to give advance warning of missile tests.

The Indian leader's visit was marred by Pakistani Muslims violently protesting in Lahore against the meeting and worried their government might back down on the issue of Kashmir.

The Indian Prime Minister was on a walkabout following a civil reception in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

Atal Behari Vajpayee was at the end of his meeting with the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The first visit of an Indian premier to Pakistan in ten years.

The two were meeting in an attempt to diffuse tension between the two countries aggravated by nuclear issues and their dispute over Indian-held Kashmir.

Before leaving the Punjab state capital of Lahore, Vajpayee jointly signed a declaration with his host.

The declaration promises to try to reduce the risk of nuclear war and promote peace
and stability between the two countries.

The two attended a news conference where they answered questions mainly on the content of the Lahore declaration.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The respective governments shall intensify their efforts to resolve all issues including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. The ice has broken and I think both governments will be able to make further progress on all the issues, including the issue of Kashmir."
SUPER CAPTION: Nawaz Sharif, Pakistani Prime Minister

On the thorny issue of Kashmir, a dispute that has kept their relationship uneasy for decades, the two prime ministers committed to keep talking and to intensify their efforts to find a solution to their dispute.

Vajpayee avoided to determine exactly whether the issue of Kashmir's self-determination was ever going to be a point of discussion for India.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We have said in our joint statement that the question of Jammu and Kashmir is being discussed under the agenda which has been accepted by the two parties. The discussion is going on. It's very difficult for me to say what solution will emerge. You wait for the outcome."
SUPER CAPTION: Atal Behari Vajpayee, Indian Prime Minister

The Pakistani Prime Minister was upbeat about the outcome of the meeting.

Sharif said that the two countries were looking forward to progressing their relationship.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I think there is a need now to get out of this and we should now be looking forward to building an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence. This is very important and this is what we are trying to do."
SUPER CAPTION: Nawaz Sharif, Pakistani Prime Minister

And Vajpayee echoed Sharif's positive statements and also welcomed a visit by the Pakistani leader.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
SUPER CAPTION: Atal Behari Vajpayee, Indian Prime Minister

Tensions between the two were raised last year when both countries conducted a series of nuclear tests.

What they didn't say was how they hoped to reduce the risk or whether they would renounce the next step in their nuclear development -- the deployment of nuclear weapons.

In a speech earlier on Sunday Vajpayee said that the issue was how much Pakistan and India could afford to spend on nuclear arms.

World leaders, most notably the United States, want Pakistan and India to renounce to nuclear weapons.
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