Musharraf rebuffed ahead of summit

Musharraf elevated himself to president last week in the run-up to the landmark summit.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's president has stirred up resistance as he seeks to bolster his legitimacy ahead of a key summit with India next month.

President Pervez Musharraf met on Wednesday with leaders from Pakistan's political parties ahead of the summit in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

Observers believe Musharraf is using these talks as a means to strengthen his position, according to CNN's Talat Hussain.

But there are signs Musharraf's decision to suddenly take on the mantle of president last week have cost him credibility at home and could dampen his efforts at the July summit.

An alliance of parties opposed to military rule -- and Musharaff's elevation to president -- have boycotted the talks.

PROFILE General Pervez Musharraf     COUNTRY PROFILE At a glance: Pakistan Provided by CountryWatch.com    CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition   MESSAGE BOARD India and Pakistan

They say Musharraf does not have the proper mandate to meet India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Outside Pakistan, Washington has already made it clear that Musharraf's move to appoint himself president will delay any lifting of U.S. sanctions, while in London his decision has been seen as a serious step away from democracy.

Musharraf says he expects the summit with India, the first in more than two years between the neighbors, to open a process for settling the bitter dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

The new president has already said he is aware of the serious impediments in normalizing relations between the rival states, which have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.

Tough talks

Despite these reservations, Musharraf has said he will go to India keen to open a new and less tense chapter in relations between the two nuclear neighbors and cautiously optimistic about the prospects for a deal.

However, he faces serious challenges in support at home, which could hinder progress.

The 16-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has said while it is not opposed to the summit, it is upset about the manner in which Musharraf declared himself president.

Echoing this view, a spokesperson from the Pakistan Muslim League has said he thinks the talks will be a "fruitless effort," with any commitments made to the Indian side unlikely to be acknowledged in Pakistan.

"We can't expect fruitful talks between an elected prime minister, and on the other side a self-assumed president of Pakistan," said Javed Hashmi from the PML.

The ARD, which includes two mainstream parties led by exiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, has also said it is protesting Musharraf's exclusion of some of its parties from the meeting.

Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution and national and provincial parliaments when he seized power in a 1999 bloodless coup.

It is widely thought that Musharraf elected himself president to strengthen his hand ahead of the summit with India.

Package of measures

Musharraf seized power via a military coup in Pakistan in October, 1999

According to Indian media reports, the summit between Indian and Pakistan would seek to work out a package of peace measures for Kashmir.

Any deal between the two is likely to include a reduction of Indian troops both along the Line of Control dividing Kashmir and in the insurgency-plagued territory ruled by India.

But this would likely only come about after terrorist violence is the disputed territory is curbed, and a firm schedule for continuing dialogue is set, the reports said.