Musharraf and India

WASHINGTON, USA: This is with reference to Shahzad Chauhdry’s article “Reading men (and women)” (June 21). The writer states: “By Indian standards, he was reckless; almost agreed to putting to rest the mockery that rules India and Pakistan. But then, he hit the proverbial ‘wall’ of the Indian Establishment with some help from Musharraf.”

I do not think the “Indian establishment” got to Atal Behari Vajpayee, whom the writer is referring to. In India, the army reports to the defence minister who is part of the cabinet and is always a civilian.

It was not “some help from Musharraf” that alienated Vajpayee. It was 100 per cent Musharraf’s fault. First, it was via the Kargil war in 1999 that completely destroyed the momentum built up by the Lahore Summit. Vajpayee graciously overlooked that and invited Musharraf to Agra to restart talks and after having agreed to a common approach with the Indian team, the Pakistani president went ahead and gave a TV interview that was materially different from the agreement that the teams had come to behind the scene. When someone backstabs you, not once but twice, it becomes difficult to overcome the trust deficit.

Ayesha Khan

Published In The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2012.