Riyaz Ul Khaliq

KL Monitoring Desk

SRINAGAR

Former Premier Dr Manmohan Singh and ex-Pakistan president Gen Pervez Musharaff
Former Premier Dr Manmohan Singh and ex-Pakistan president Gen Pervez Musharraf

Pakistan’s journalist-politician Mushahid Hussain Sayed has revealed that former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was prevented by India’s security set-up to visit his birth place, located on the other side of the border. He said Singh turned down the invitation by then president General Parvez Musharraf, extended at a three-hour long dinner meeting in New York, simply to keep his job.

Hussain, Pakistan Prime Minister’s special envoy on J&K, made the revelations in response to a question about the possibility of revival of India-Pakistan talks at an event hosted by Stimson Centre, a Washington based think-tank. He, however, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he can prove different because he is a “self-made man” and is not a “rich” Dilliwalla.

Here is the response to the question, transliterated from the video that the Stimson Centre has already uploaded.

“I was in the talks with Mr Manmohan Singh, in the three hour meeting, in New York. We were sitting across the table. Manmohan Singh was surrounding by two sulking hawks, they never smiled. One was K R Narayanan, the former head of RAW and the National Security advisor and the other was Natwar Singh, the foreign minister. And they were glum and serious.

General Musharraf was there (across the table), I was there and the foreign minister was there and current Ambassador to the United Sates, (Jalil Abbas) Jilani, was there.

And we were saying and there was a press conference as it was a longish dinner.

And then a situation came that there was no breakthrough. And I could feel literally that (Dr) Manmohan Singh was held by the sleeves by these two hawks, psychologically that is, not physically. (Hussain gestures to the session moderator)

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed speaking at Stimson Centre in Washington Oct 08, 2016. (KL Image: https://twitter.com/mushahid)
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed (3rd from left) speaking at Stimson Centre in Washington Oct 08, 2016. (KL Image: https://twitter.com/mushahid)

And we (Pakistan) said: you (Manmohan Singh) should visit Pakistan; your village is in Pakistani province of Punjab. And then he (Manmohan) said, “I have to take a break in the washroom.” So, I followed him to the washroom. (Audience laughs: ‘it is a large men’s room’).

I spoke to him (Dr Manmohan Singh) even in Punjabi. I said, “Sir, there is going to be a press conference. The press is waiting. A contingent of Indians and Pakistanis (Journalists) and they were waiting with a baited breath: why this long dinner?” “Manmohan Singh is a man of few words.”

I said, “Sir, we have to make an announcement.” I said, “You (Manmohan Singh) should announce that I am willing to visit Pakistan at a mutually convenient date.” He (Manmohan Singh) said, “I can’t do that right now.” I said, “Sir you have to.” I spoke even in Punjabi. “You (Manmohan Singh) must do something; kuch to karna hai; kuch to karo na!”

He (Dr Manmohan Singh) said, “You (Hussain) want me to lose my job; tu chanda hai (ki) mei nokri khatam howey?”

“It was that kind of fear, unfortunately, an opportunity… (was missed),” Hussain rued.

However, he claimed, “(Gen) Musharraf went the extra-mile; he went even beyond the stated position.”

Hussain, Pakistan Prime Minister’s special envoy to US on Kashmir, also said that though fingers are being raised towards Pakistani army for being an impediment, the fact is that India’s army does not respond to situations differently.

“And I think they (India) always said that (Pakistan) army was an impediment,” he said asserting, “military was on board. They wanted a peace deal, they wanted an outreach on Kashmir.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) with his Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on Friday
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore.

Hussain believes, “mother of all deals could have been clinched had Manmohan not blinked. He blinked, unfortunately.” He added, “and not only had he blinked on that, he blinked on another thing: Siachen.”

Narrating the events which unfolded in the three-hour long meeting in New York, Hussain said, “we said OK (on Kashmir); forget it.”

“We (Pakistan) said let us go for the low hanging fruit: Siachen,” he said. “He (Manmohan) said let me check from the army in Delhi,” the Pak PM’s envoy informed. “And it is not the Prime Minister of Pakistan speaking; it is Prime Minister of India speaking. (And) the army vetoed it,” he claimed. “The second time (Indian) army has vetoed a Siachen deal.”

The Senator referred to the ‘deal’ agreed to by Rajiv Ghandhi and Benazir Bhutto on Siachen in a meeting in July 1989 in Islamabad. “But Mr Rajiv Ghandhi went back (to Delhi), then said ‘No’,” he said. “Because they (Indian army) said that we are at an advantaged position and so forth.” “It is a very sorry sta…”

Junaid Akhoon, the school boy was killed when he was hit by pellets in his chest and head fired by forces on Oct 7th 2017 in Saidapora, Eidgah in Srinagar. He succumbed to his injuries at SKIMS and was laid to rest in Martyrs Graveyard Eidgah, a day later. (KL Images: Bilal Bahadur)
Junaid Akhoon, the school boy was killed when he was hit by pellets in his chest and head fired by forces on Oct 7th 2017 in Saidapora, Eidgah in Srinagar. He succumbed to his injuries at SKIMS and was laid to rest in Martyrs Graveyard Eidgah, a day later. (KL Image: Bilal Bahadur)

But he instantly added, “now, yes, I feel Mr (Narendra) Modi is an outsider to the Delhi establishment and I hope the Dilliwalas who had dominated the North Block and the South Block will not hold him by the sleeves because he does not come from the families of rich daddies and grand daddies and big establishments. He is a self-made man.”

Hussain opined, “and he (Modi) can spring a surprise also. He is unpredictable.” “So, if he can become… have that… what I call… and I am a great fan of President Richard Nixon; he can have a Nixonian transformation and outreach to Pakistan. I think destiny of one-fifth of humanity (in South Asia) will change!”

However, he suggested, “and what should he (Narendra Modi) do?”

“If I was his (Modi’s) National Security Advisor, I would suggest three things: (a) Resume back channel between Pakistan and India, (b) Have CBMs on Kashmir, end the killings, end the human rights violations, it is a human problem; it is not about territorial real estate. It is about brave and oppressed people of Kashmir; and (c) the SAARC Summit has been scuttled courtesy Mr Modi. But under the SAARC rules, the SAARC Summit has to be held by the host country at a mutually agreed new date. It has to be held in Pakistan. So he (Modi) should give a wink and a nod to Mr Nawaz Sharif that yes let us have that.”

Forces firing tear gas shells on the funeral of 12 year old slain Junaid Ahmad Akhoon near Aali Masjid Srinagar on the morning Oct 8th 2016.
Forces firing tear gas shells on the funeral of 12 year old slain Junaid Ahmad Akhoon near Aali Masjid Srinagar on the morning Oct 8th 2016. (KL Image: Bilal Bahadur)

Hussain also talked about the new American president and hoped that it would offer another opportunity for the two countries – India and Pakistan – to get closer.

“On 20th of January 2017, there will be a new president of the United States and a new administration. So, I think this a very opportune moment; in 2019, Mr Modi will be fighting for re-election; so let 2017 be year of decision, the year of peace for South Asia. The ball is in Modi’s court.”

On what Pakistan can do to improve the atmospherics (in South Asia), he replied, “Pakistan is ready, willing and able to go extra-mile. We have the unconditional things whether you (India) talk to us bilaterally; let us start talking across the table. And everything should be on the table. Any issue.”

“If you can’t do bilaterally, do it regionally but you (India) have scuttled SAARC. Do it internationally but you have scuttled the UN (United Nations),” he observed. Referring to the policy analysts sitting in the audience at the event, he sought their cooperation and help (to get communication bridges built between Indian and Pakistan) and said, “if we can’t do it ourselves; I think South Asia has the most brilliant brains, human resources; some of the best and the brightest in the third world, they come from South Asia. There is so much human resource.”

“Why can’t we take the bull by the horns?” he questioned, “Whatever they (India) ask us, we are ready to do! Let the Indians ask us.”

Accompanied by Dr Shezra Mansab Ali (Member National Assembly), Senator Hussain, currently in USA has submitted a dossier to Special Assistant to President Barack Hussain Obama, Peter Lavoy containing evidence of the atrocities in Kashmir.

“Kashmir issue is important. Without peace in Kashmir it is not possible to have peace in the region, in Afghanistan,” Hussain said, “India has indulged in state terrorism against Kashmiris and is simultaneously trying to divert international attention from the gross humanitarian and human rights violations in occupied Kashmir by falsely blaming Pakistan for the Uri attack.”

Commenting on the Uri attack, Husain has said: “UN Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) should investigate the Uri attack. Crossing the Line of Control to attack any target in India is not possible for any militant.”

Besides, Hussain said that tensions between Pakistan and India can impact the on-going war on terrorism. “Pakistan has deployed 200,000 troops on the Western border with Afghanistan to fight terrorists,” Husain said.

Hussain said talks without Kashmir are not possible. “If you talk of peace in the region, it has to be comprehensive,” he has said. “Talk of peace cannot be compartmentalised, it cannot be segregated. You can’t have peace in Afghanistan and not in Kashmir… Kashmir is the root cause of tension between the two nuclear-armed states”.

(This news story was produced watching Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed speaking at an event – Pakistan’s Relations with China, India and Afghanistan: A Luncheon Conversation with Mushahid Hussain Syed & Shezra Mansab Ali Khan Kharal – hosted by Stimson Centre Washington on October 6, 2016 from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM.)

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