Vajpayee greeted us with much warmth and cordiality.
He asked us to take a bite of the “peras” bought for us especially from the Indian town of Mathra, famous for the milk-based sweet.
The talks progressed smoothly and as we broke for lunch, I suggested that we issue a brief joint statement to the hundreds of waiting media persons to avoid any speculation. Indian minister for external affairs Jaswant Singh agreed and graciously left it to the Pakistan side to do so.
On my request, he agreed to a mutually agreed Press release stating that the talks were progressing smoothly and the two sides would meet again after lunch. Such was the cordiality until then.
During the lunch break, President Musharraf’s spokesperson Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi and I decided to hop over to the crowded media centre nearby to greet the large number of media persons assembled there.
As we reached the media centre, we were accosted by the media who wanted to know if Kashmir was not being discussed.
Taken aback, we replied that as indicated in the Press release, talks were moving smoothly and every issue would be discussed.
They then informed us that Sushma Swaraj had earlier visited the media centre and had said that Kashmir would not be discussed. Coming from the Indian information minister, the remarks could not be taken lightly.
We rushed back to our hotel and in consultation with foreign minister Mr Abdus Sattar issued a Press statement saying that all issues including Kashmir will be discussed at the talks.
That indeed was the beginning of the end of the Agra talks and not, as alleged by the Indian propagandists, the rather sarcastic reply of President Musharraf to the Indian editors that if he was not expected to mention Kashmir while in India, he might as well buy back his ancestral home in Delhi and not return to Pakistan.
Sushma Swaraj was then the minister for information and not external affairs. She was not part of the Indian delegation involved in the talks. But she was then, and remains even today, a key member of the Indian political establishment that sets its own agenda in relation to Pakistan. It is an agenda that is based on Hindu fundamentalism, indeed Hindu fanaticism that has no room for coexistence with the Muslims generally, leave alone with Pakistan.
For her and her likes, if Pakistan must coexist, it should do so as subservient to the Indian world view.
The talks at Agra broke down in 2001 because of Sushma Swaraj who then had the covert support of L.K Advani.
Today, as she directly presides over the affairs of the Hyderabad House in New Delhi, with full patronage of Narendar Modi, should we be surprised when she said, “Pakistan has till midnight to give an assurance that no other topic will come under discussion except terrorism...... if Pakistan does not agree, talks will not happen”. Pakistan was naive at Ufa. Mercifully, Mr Sartaj Aziz salvaged some national pride by his dignified and correct response to Sushma’s arrogance and her clearly lame excuses.
The writer is a former federal secretary