LAHORE: Former foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Friday said India had planned to bomb Muridke after the Mumbai attacks and also informed the US about the conspiracy. However, it decided otherwise when Pakistan hinted at a stern reply. According to Kasuri, Richard Holbrooke and US presidential candidate John McCain had contacted during a visit to Pakistan and said New Delhi was very angry. They said they feared India might attack Pakistan and wanted to save both the countries from war. They asked him about the reaction of the Pakistan army and people, if Muridke was attacked. His response was that the army would retaliate immediately and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was forced to carry out nuclear test due to public pressure despite the US opposition. Kasuri was expressing views with Najam Sethi in Geo News programme ‘Aapas ki Baat’. He said there had been a change in the attitude of Pervez Musharraf - who had a very responsive mind - after the Kargil episode. The former president held debates with everyone, he said, adding that the ISI used to prevail in some matters while his suggestions were accepted in others. According to Kasuri, history has been distorted in both Pakistan and India. We, in Pakistan, even twisted Quaid-e-Azam’s speech. We changed the Quaid’s slogan and are facing the consequences today. Muslims from every sect had united under the leadership of Quaid. The Muslims in Indian are experiencing exploitation and their position would get better with improved Pak-India ties. The Pakistani hardliners seem to be ‘soft-liners’ when compared with their counterparts in India. All the political parties are in favour of dialogue with India. Kasuri said Agra talks failed because both the countries had not completed homework and same was the case with Ufa. According to the former foreign minister, there is no solution to the Pak-India issues except the 12 points on which they had understanding. Narendra Modi wasted a great opportunity for peace at Ufa. The Foreign Office performs its duties but those at the helm do not listen to it. Kasuri said Musharraf had mistakenly delivered an anti-India speech at the UN General Assembly in 2015, adding that Permanent Representative Munir Akram - who had tough stance on India - wrote the speech as he was busy. Later during a meeting, the Indian delegation said it was different from the previous one, he said, adding that “we could not say that we had written the speech at the very last moment.” He rejected the impression of giving a ‘Chenab Formula’ to solve the Kashmir issue, saying their formula was different from that of Nawaz Sharif. Private meetings had been held with the leaders from Occupied Kashmir to ascertain which formula they would accept, he added. According to Kasuri, the formula was based upon the fact that the Kashmiris do not want division. India’s stance was that Pakistan too would have to withdraw army, if they did that in the Occupied Kashmir. We had no objection as AJK is not controlled through military repression. India had asked to stop the people from crossing into Occupied Kashmir to which Pakistan’s response was that they did not do that after state permission but every step would be taken to prevent the practice, Kasuri added. “We set up centres to bring them back to normal life.” He rejected the impression that Musharraf did not take army into confidence on the formula, saying he had attending the meetings in which Musharraf briefed the military men on the issue. Musharraf did not represent the army on the issue despite being the army chief, he added. According to Kasuri, Gen Aslam Hayat and Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani represented the army and ISI respectively in these meetings. That’s why it took three years to make progress in the issue as those two would have been trying to protect army’s interests. He said it was wrong to say that the army backtracked from the Kashmir formula after Musharraf, as Gen Kayani had told US Ambassador Patterson two years after their government that the formula was okay. Kasuri said Modi would have to improve relations with Pakistan, if he wanted to get his name written in history and complete his development agenda. Modi was a victim of contradictions but he would fail as prime minister, if he didn’t change his policy, he added. He said Modi would have to hold dialogue with Pakistan otherwise South Asia was to suffer badly. Kasuri revealed that the then Indian premier Vajpayee arranged telephonic conversation between Nawaz and Dilip Kumar who told the prime minister that “the Indian Muslims would be destroyed due to what you are doing.”
