Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

Putin Invites Pakistani, Indian Leaders to Separate Talks

Aired June 02, 2002 - 09:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the growing concern this morning, though, over the tensions between India and Pakistan and Russia's hope to bring the leaders of the two nations together for a face-to-face talk.

CNN's Ash-har Quraishi joins us now live from Islamabad with more. Ash-har.

ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra. Well Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf left Islamabad this morning. He's stopping in Krgyzstan on his way to Kazakhstan for that conference. He will arrive in Kazakhstan tomorrow, where the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will also be for the next three days.

Now Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited both these leaders separately to meet for talks. He's encouraging the both of them to meet face-to-face. Now President Musharraf says that he would be interested in such a meeting, although the Indian Prime Minister has said that they're maintaining their stance that Pakistan has to crack down on militants that they say are crossing over from Pakistan into India before any such talks can occur.

Earlier this week, U.S. officials said that there were indications that the Pakistani authorities were instructing these infiltrations to stop. That's something that the government here has denied, saying that they didn't make any such instructions. However, militant organizations here in Pakistan tell CNN that in the last few days, communications between Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and Indian- controlled Kashmir have been disturbed.

Now whether or not that does enough to stop the supposed cross- border incursion is something that the Indian Prime Minister is looking for before he can return to talks, to something in the words of the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, that we'll have to wait and see -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ash-har, not doubt the threat of a nuclear was is a concern to many Americans. What about there where you are and on the streets? Has that become a reality to people who live there?

QURAISHI: Well surprisingly, people here in Pakistan are very complacent about the current tensions. This is something that this country has lived with for years now. India and Pakistan have already fought three wars. The nuclear question is something that here it's deemed that there's not a full understanding of what the impact would be every time a test or a missile test is conducted with nuclear warheads, they're cheering in the streets. This is something of national pride here.

But obviously this is something of international concern. Just yesterday, the U.N. had ordered the evacuation of all of the family members of U.N. workers in the region in India and Pakistan. But here in the region, it seems that they're trying to keep panic down, as the government says. They're trying to keep it to a level where panic does not arise in the streets, and so far that seems to be the case -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ash-har Quraishi, live from Islamabad, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com