Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away yesterday after prolonged illness, especially since a stroke in 2009 impairing his speech and mental faculties, is, as very much expected in case of one who had thrice taken oath as the country's premier and who happens to be one of the icons of the party currently in power, being heaped with handsome encomiums by the Indian media.
One of the recurring themes is his "bold peace initiative" with neighbouring Pakistan, a major bugbear for his party, via a bus ride to Lahore. That was on Feb. 20 1999 (ref.: 'Vajpayee drives across the border into Pakistan and history' at < http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/feb/20bus1.htm>). What, in the process, is completely suppressed that just nine months back India had gone overtly nuclear weponised at the behest of the selfsame Vajpayee with so much of chest thumping, not excluding aggressive gestures towards Pakistan. Not to forget that Farooq Abdullah, the then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, got included in the entourage of the Prime Minister on his ceremonial visit to the blast site after the explosions and thereby a deliberate linkage was made between Kashmir and the Bomb. And, thereby, a message was sent to Pakistan. To be sure, Farooq was the only Chief Minister in that crowd other than Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the Chief Minister of the state in which the explosion site is located (ref.: < https://books.google.co.in/books?id=UDA9dUryS8EC&pg=PA210-IA15&lpg=PA210-IA15&dq=Vajpayee+visits+Pokhran+with+George+Fernandes,+APJ+Abdul+Kalam+and+Farooq+Abdullah&source=bl&ots=bPqfZcn_DF&sig=zphsDpLBDYBFAm7HZz1a___E3Kw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZk9Lbm_TcAhVScCsKHTQNDacQ6AEwCXoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=Vajpayee%20visits%20Pokhran%20with%20George%20Fernandes%2C%20APJ%20Abdul%20Kalam%20and%20Farooq%20Abdullah&f=false >). More importantly, here's a sort of real time account of the events noted by this observer: <<The economic and military sanctions that came quick in the wake of the explosions were soon followed by a series of "talks" undertaken by the US State Department officials deputed to mediate. Strobe Talbott, the then Deputy Secretary of State, functioned as the main interlocutor. And it is soon after his trip to Delhi/Islamabad in January/February ’99, during what came to be known as the "8th round of talks", the then Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif extended invitation to his Indian counterpart, not through any official channel but via an interview granted to a leading Indian daily - The Indian Express. The Indian PM, acting his magnanimous best, seized this invitation of sorts and heartily accepted it. Those who chose not to keep track of Talbott’s pronouncements at various forums, before and after the "talks", were taken by great surprise, and broke into wild applause. In fact, as early as in mid-June ’98, about 5 weeks after the nuclear explosions by India, Talbott had, during an official briefing, outlined that the US goal in South Asia was to ensure that the two nuclear neighbours step by step adopt all (nuclear) non-proliferation measures and subscribe to all the relevant international treaties, and also "refrain from threatening military movements or violations across the borders and particularly the line of control or any other provocative acts or statements, and reestablish direct communications between India and Pakistan with a view to addressing the basic cause of the tensions between those countries, including the issue of Kashmir ". But as the confabulations got going, the US administration, eager to succeed, took due care of Indian sensitivity as regards external pressure, in general, and any third party mediation on Kashmir, in particular, and less than a fortnight before his departure to India/Pak Strobe Talbott submitted, while addressing the Conference on Diplomacy and Preventive Defense, that "we obviously and properly must let the governments in question decide how much they want to expose to public and parliamentary scrutiny the content of their side of the dialogues that they are conducting with us. We have taken pains not to reveal, or respond to, the Indian and Pakistani positions beyond what their spokesmen have chosen to say in public". In any case, an atmosphere of artificial bonhomie, bordering on euphoria, was built up and Vajpayee on 20th February left for Wagah on the Indo-Pak border taking the inaugural trip of the Delhi-Lahore bus service. This was less than 3 weeks since Talbott’s departure from Delhi. Even then, Vajpayee and Sharif were lavishly praised, for their "courage" and "statesmanship". Some even went to the extent of recommending that they be jointly considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. The jarring notes, and quite shrill and loud at that, were, however, provided by the religious rights in both the countries and also the Army in Pakistan. The next day in Lahore both the Prime Ministers signed a joint declaration and issued a joint statement highlighting their resolve to sort out the outstanding bilateral issues including Kashmir and commitment to nuclear non-proliferation. Nothing much on the ground followed thereafter. (Source: Sl. No. 2 - 'Road to Agra: Hope or Despair?', penned on July 15 2001, at <https://www.facebook.com/notes/10150224999460437/>.) Reproduced below are some relevant clippings of news reports and comments in the media during that period. I. <<US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and his team concluded the eighth round of bilateral discussions with India and Pakistan between January 29 and February 2. Announcements both from Delhi and Islamabad at the end of these talks are that the US will continue its dialogue on the sensitive issue of non-proliferation over a period of time.>> (Ref.: 'Indo-US Relations: Delhi dialogue and after' by J N Dixit at < http://in.rediff.com/news/1999/feb/11dixit.htm>.) II. <<The Pakistani authorities have deployed thousands of police in the city of Lahore where the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, is expected in a few hours time. He set out from Amritsar on the inaugural trip of a new bus service between the two countries at 1554 local time (1024GMT). It is the first visit by an Indian prime minister to Pakistan for 10 years. Speaking moments before the bus set off, Mr Vajpayee said he was very happy that he was going to meet Mr Sharif. Mr Vajpayee's 16-strong delegation will be welcomed at the Wagah border crossing by the Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif; they will continue their journey to Lahore by helicopter. The Pakistani government says it will not allow the visit to be disrupted despite the threat of further protests by Islamic groups. On Friday about 2,000 people protested in Lahore against the visit. ... Most of the protesters belonged to Islamic parties, including the influential Jamaat-i-Islami, which has called for a general strike in Lahore to coincide with the arrival of Mr Vajpayee>> (Ref.: 'World: South Asia: 'Bus diplomacy' aims to ease tension', dtd. Feb. 20 1999, at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/281764.stm>.) III. <<Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee accepted a warmly worded invitation today from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan to ride the first bus to roll from India to Pakistan in half a century and to search for a breakthrough to peace between the hostile nations. The meeting of the two leaders, probably in a month, would be their third since India and Pakistan conducted underground nuclear tests in May. The idea for the Delhi-Lahore bus service emerged at a meeting in September when they were in New York for a United Nations session. In recent months the leaders have developed a closer rapport in regular telephone conversations, Mr. Sharif and Indian officials said. Mr. Sharif invited Mr. Vajpayee, whom he described as ''an extremely decent man,'' in an interview with Shekhar Gupta, editor in chief of The Indian Express, an English-language daily here, that was published today. By this afternoon the Indian Prime Minister had accepted. In a transcript of the interview provided by Mr. Gupta, an effusive Mr. Sharif promised that Mr. Vajpayee, arriving on the luxurious air-conditioned bus that India is outfitting, would be received with a hospitality ''so great that people will not forget it for a long time.'' ''I will even be happy to go back with him,'' Mr. Sharif added. ''We will solve 50 percent of our problems, make 50 percent progress on all issues, on our way.'' Mr. Vajpayee, who was in Lucknow today, said, ''I would like to have a bus ride to Pakistan.>> (Ref.: 'Indian Leader Accepts Pakistani Offer to Take a Ride to Lahore, (dtd. Feb. 4 1999), at < https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/04/world/indian-leader-accepts-pakistani-offer-to-take-a-ride-to-lahore.html >.) IV. <<The (Kargil review) committee’s larger interest was in protecting the “system”. Of the three examples quoted here, one was apparently a minor change in my statement that Sharif said “should” Vajpayee travel to Lahore, he would be given a welcome he wouldn’t forget. It was made to read as if he had proposed that Vajpayee come to Lahore. I had told the committee, quite truthfully, that ***Vajpayee had spoken with me earlier and had said that if I could get Sharif to invite him in an interview, he would say yes*** [emphasis added.]. The change was small but served the committee’s purpose of distancing Vajpayee from the decision to go to Lahore.>> (Ref.: 'Kargil: What kind of a democracy are we that we are shy of facing the truth about our wars?' by Shekhar Gupta, dtd. June 13 2018, at < https://theprint.in/opinion/kargil-what-kind-of-a-democracy-are-we-that-we-are-shy-of-facing-the-truth-about-our-wars/69936/ >.) V. <<Though the rss would like to project the bykd as an independent organisation, there is a complete unity of thought between the two. Says Kaushal Kishor, a top rss functionary: 'There's nothing wrong with these demands. Just going to Pakistan and coming back is not going to serve any purpose, unless contentious issues are sorted out.' Clearly, the bykd is made to voice the feelings of the Sangh which does not want to come out openly and resort to rhetoric, especially on the issue of Indo-Pak relationships. The Sangh parivar's willingness to avoid controversy on this issue was evident at the eighth dharma sansad in Ahmedabad, where the fire-spewing Acharya Dharmendra openly ridiculed Vajpayee from the dais. Giving a clarion call to launch an offensive against Pakistan, the articulate acharya said: 'Go to Pakistan if you must, but not on a bus. Go there on tanks and take the Pokhran bombs along.' Realising that his organisation would be accused of creating war hysteria, vhp supremo Ashok Singhal wasted no time in dissociating himself from the acharya. 'It was his personal thinking which has nothing to do with the vhp,' he later said. rss ideologue Devendra Swaroop also washed his hands of the Acharya. He told Outlook: 'I spoke to Ashokji (Singhal) today and he also said that Acharya Dharmendra unnecessarily said all those things. That was just the rhetoric and not the representative voice of the vhp.' As the chorus splits into independent voices set in a gradation of ever-shriller pitch, the rss, like always, has the luxury of letting things be said and not take responsibility for it. (Ref.: 'A Proxy War Of Words' by Rajesh Joshi, dtd. March 1 1999, at < https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/a-proxy-war-of-words/207060>.) VI. <<Our discussions with the Indians and Pakistanis over the past 7 and a half months have inevitably focused on these core non-proliferation issues, but we've tried not to lose sight of the broader context -- and indeed the broader definition of security itself. With both parties, we have been trying to make the case that security is not just a matter of what kind of weapons they have and in what quantities; rather, security is also, crucially, a matter of raising living standards and building healthy democracies. The essence of the argument that we're making to the Indians and Pakistanis is that in pursuing what we believe is their ill-advised reliance on nuclear deterrence, we hope very much they will not jeopardize the other, political and economic dimensions of their own safety. ... Now, as for Indian and Pakistani public opinion: here we obviously and properly must let the governments in question decide how much they want to expose to public and parliamentary scrutiny the content of their side of the dialogues that they are conducting with us. We have taken pains not to reveal, or respond to, the Indian and Pakistani positions beyond what their spokesmen have chosen to say in public. But we have seen fit to summarize our own approach, our own goals and our own interests. Not least because we think we have some pretty good arguments worthy of, and appropriate for, consideration and open discussion as well as closed-door deliberations. That's why, in addition to our closed-door session with our official interlocutors, Joe Ralston and I will, in both Delhi and Islamabad, be meeting with members of the media, non-governmental organizations, and other opinion-leaders.>> (Ref.: 'Dialogue, Democracy and Nuclear Weapons in South Asia' by Strobe Talbott, Deputy Secretary of State, dtd. Jan. 16 1999, at < https://1997-2001.state.gov/policy_remarks/1999/990116_talbott_sa.html>.) >From the above, clearly follow: AA. US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and his team had held eigh rounds of bilateral discussions with India and Pakistan between Jan. 29 and Feb. 2 1999. BB. The US side took care not to divulge which woul embarrass the Indian or Pakistani regime. CC. On Feb. 3, just a day(?) since completion of the eighth round of talks with the US reps.,the Indian Express carried an interview of Nawaz Sharif, with Shekhar Gupta, in which Sharif extended a warmly worded invite to Vajpayee to visit Lahore. (For an interesting and informed account, also ref.: 'Dateline Islamabad' by Amit Baruah at < https://books.google.co.in/books?id=64JICgAAQBAJ&pg=PT102&lpg=PT102&dq=Indian+Express,+Nawaz+Sharif+interview+with+Shekhar+Gupta,+1999&source=bl&ots=L_AvwTmOm-&sig=0IUBb9Zmpz3qmXCEXkTC9DhHDaQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjY7puPuvTcAhXZdysKHWPRAfoQ6AEwC3oECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=Indian%20Express%2C%20Nawaz%20Sharif%20interview%20with%20Shekhar%20Gupta%2C%201999&f=false >.) DD. Gupta had, in fact, been virtually deputed by Vajpayee to extract an invite from Sharif. EE. Vajpayee publicly accepted the "invite", from Lucknow where he was, almost immediately, without even waiting for an official communication from Sharif, on Feb. 4. FF. ***That shows an extraordinary keenness on the part of Vajpayee, and also Sharif, so very out of character with the shrill noises that had accompanied the nuclear blasts just some nine months back***. They were completely undeterred by their respective domestic oppositions. ***GG. Given the chronology of events, the link between Strobe Talbott's eight round of bilateral talks, in Delhi and Islamabad, concluded on Feb. 2, and the extension of the "invite", through an unofficial channel, and its almost immediate acceptance, on Feb. 4, to be followed up with the actual visit about a fortnight thereafter, on Feb. 20, indicating a massive change of hearts on both the sides, becomes all too evident.*** Sukla -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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