Tuesday, September 26 2006 17:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: In a firm rejection of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's claim that some 'power' was responsible for the collapse of the Agra summit, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today (Sept 26, 2006) said it failed because the general refused to describe the violence in Jammu and Kashmir as terrorism.

Expressing 'surpise' at Musharraf's comments in his book 'In The Line Of Fire' that both of them had been 'humiliated' at the summit.

"No one insulted the general and certainly no one insulted me, "said Vajpayee.

".During our talks he (Musharraf) took a stand that the violence that was taking place in Jammu and Kashmir could not be described as 'terrorism'. He continued to claim that the bloodshed in the state was nothing but the people's battle for freedom," he said.

"It was this stand of General Musharraf that India just could not accept and this was responsible for the failure of the Agra summit," he said.

Vajpayee pointed out that Pakistan finally accepted the Indian viewpoint on terrorism only in 2004, when the two sides issued a joint statement in which Musharraf promised not to allow Pakistani territory to be used for terror activities against India.

"If General Musharraf had been willing to accept our position in 2000, the Agra summit would have become successful, and the three subsequent years may have proved very valuable to take our initiative forward," he said.

Recalling his meeting with Vajpayee in Agra, Musharraf said in his book released yesterday, "I told him bluntly that there seems to be someone above the two of us who had the power to overrule us. I also said that today both of us had been humilitated."