I was present at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president's palace, where former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. Before the meeting, India's then national security advisor Brajesh Mishra held talks with Musharraf, then secretary of the National Security Council Tariq Aziz and Pakistani intelligence officials. There was some debate going on about what should go into the joint-statement of the two leaders. As Musharraf and I were awaiting for the arrival of Vajpayee, president's chief of staff Hamid Zaved came in and showed us a piece of paper and the president approved it. Vajpayee must also have been informed that a decision has been finalised. As Vajpayee arrived, both sides seemed to be little reserved. This was probably because both sides were meeting for the first time after the Agra fiasco.
President Musharraf is an open person and Vajpayee, after ten minutes or so also opened up. The discussion was on the declaration and the joint statement released on January 6, 2004 says Musharraf reassured that “he will not permit any territory under Pakistan's control to be used to support terrorism in any manner.” After the talks, I remember speaking to the president and both of us felt that the meeting had gone off very well and the BJP would win the upcoming elections. But then, of course, the whole atmosphere changed as Vajpayee expressed his desire to buy some Pakistani sherwanis. I think the then prime minister Shaukat Aziz arranged him some fashion designers—a husband and wife—to whom he gave his autographed photograph. Then, I think the sherwanis were delivered while he was there or to New Delhi, I don't remember. He was also given a collection of songs by famous Pakistani singers.
Later in New Delhi, when Vajpayee was no longer the prime minister and I had gone to meet prime minister Manmohan Singh and then foreign minister Natwar Singh. I decided to call on Vajpayee. Brajesh Mishra and former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha was also present when I met him. I remember talking to him and he was quite inquisitive about the state of India-Pakistan relations and the progress on Kashmir. I was a bit surprised and almost felt he was trying to get some information about the details of Kashmir. I thought if prime minister Manmohan Singh was not giving him all the details, it would not be prudent of me and it was none of my business. So, I said to him “Vajpayee sahib, I read in the newspaper that prime minister Manmohan Singh had invited you and Advani for lunch in his residence.” We assumed, I told him, that he wanted to share with you the details of the latest of the Kashmir draft of the solution we were working on. This was subsequent to an adjournment motion by Advani in the Lok Sabha, in which he had complained that the foreign minister of Pakistan Khurshid Kasuri keeps saying all the time that “progress is being made, but we know nothing.”
I said: “Vajpayee sahib, aap ko prime minister sahib ne bula tha. Humara toh khayal hai ki aap ko brief kar diya hoga ki jo details hain.'' (I thought that the prime minister would have briefed you on the details). He took a very long pause and then said to me: “Haan. Khaana toh bahut accha khilaya tha.” So, it was clear that the prime minister had shared nothing or may be some basics, I don't know.
But I was very surprised when he said: “Dheere dheere chalein Kashmir pe” (Go slow on Kashmir), because Brajesh Mishra had met me in Lahore earlier and discussed Kashmir with me. I told him, “We need to resolve this. Any time we make a progress, Kashmir comes back. We are back to square one.” He replied, “It will take maximum six months. You should prepare public opinion on your side.” I couldn't understand anything because we had not yet started our Kashmir framework on the back channel. Maybe, Mishra had shared some ideas with Tariq Aziz. But I must express what surprised me the most, “It will take about six months,'' he said. Now how could he do that without Vajpayee knowing?
This was in Lahore. The elections to the Lok Sabha were in 2004. I don't think Vajpayee's government interacted with us for more than six eight to months. I took office in November 2002. Mishra meets me after five or six months and says to me “Kashmir can be resolved in six months, prepare public opinion.'' I said: “You prepare public opinion.”Obviously, Vajpayee sahib had something in his mind. I didn't know what that framework was. Of course, it could not have been much different from what we arrived at after three years of painstaking effort. So, he would have known when he said to me “dheeren dheeren chalen.'' When I came out, I told Mishra in Lahore you said that it would have in six months and now you're telling me to go slow. With a twinkle in his eye, he said “Woh to humane karna hai. Hum hi karenge.'' After that I left.
I remember Vajpayee's famous Kumarakom musings, where he said the two things that are holding India back, one is the long-standing problem with Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir and the other is the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute at Ayodhya. But he visited Kashmir and extended his famous hand of friendship to Pakistan and to which we immediately responded. He was invited to visit Pakistan for the famous ceasefire agreement. Vajpayee made his historic bus yatra to Lahore. I remember him reciting his famous poem 'Aman karke rahenge' at the Government House in Lahore.
He decided to visit Minar-e-Pakistan, now called Iqbal Park, where the Pakistan resolution was passed on March 23, 1940. A lot of people in India criticised him for that, especially the hardliners. I still remember his remarks. “Muhje Hindustan mein kuch log aitiraz kar rahen hain. Aapne Minar-e-Pakistan mein ja ke Pakistan par mohar laga de hai... Pakistan ho meri mohar ki zaroorat nahi. Pakistan hai aur rahega.” (People are criticising me in India for visiting Minar-e-Pakistan, saying that I have given a stamp of legitmacy to Pakistan. Pakistan doesn't need my stamp. It exists and will continue to do so). It is my strong belief that one should never underestimate the intelligence of the ordinary people. But if you infuse the worst in them, you will bring out the worst and if you infuse the best, you will bring out the best. The people need good leadership.
Germany has produced some of the greatest thinkers but it has also produced Hitler. The same people can be misled if you can work on their negative sentiments. History provides us to choose between what is good and what is bad. It is the statesmen who pick out what is the best for the people. Vajpayee was defintely a statesman. Even though he comes from RSS background, Vajpayee was a remarkable man.
—As told to Mandira Nayyar
Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri is a former minister of foreign affairs of Pakistan