ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Sharif knew nothing about Kargil: Niaz Naik

Former Pakistani foreign secretary and Pakistani high commissioner to India, Niaz Naik, has said that Pakistan and India would have reached an agreement in September or October, if Kargil had not happened.

Naik, who was involved in a secret diplomatic mission to help resolve the outstanding issues between the two countries, including Kashmir, was speaking to the press at a function organised by the Pak-China friendship association in Karachi last night.

Those who planned the Kargil infiltration had no coordination with and were not aware of the back-door diplomacy being pursued by Indian Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he disclosed.

''The only people who were aware of the channel of secret diplomacy were Sharif himself, Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad and me,'' he said, expressing doubts if Gen Pervez Musharaff was aware of this.

If the Kargil conflict had not taken place, India and Pakistan would have signed an annual agreement, he said.

Pakistan conducts military exercises every year and a similar exercise was started in Kargil. However, the organisers lacked coordination, and as a result, Sharif could not get proper feed back, he opined.

Had Sharif known of the seriousness of the situation earlier, the Kargil crisis would not have developed, he said and added that Sharif perhaps came to know about the exercise the same day as India did - April 26.

Before the Kargil crisis erupted, Sharif and Vajpayee maintained telephonic contact, he said.

''During the Kargil crisis, my counterpart in India Brajesh Mishra called up to say the situation should be defused,'' Naik said, adding that it was ''after this call that I went to New Delhi on June 27 and met Vajpayee.''

''Vajpayee asked me how he could revert to the Lahore spirit after Kargil,'' he said. ''I proposed four points to him. First, the two countries must assert their commitment to the Lahore Declaration. Second, respect the sanctity of the LoC under the Simla Agreement. Third, stop the bombing and attacks, and fourth solve the Kashmir issue through the Lahore Declaration.''

Naik further disclosed that India had proposed that Sharif, who was visiting China then, must have a technical halt at New Delhi on his way home, and that the two prime ministers meet and hold talks.

''However, this could not happen, as the political elements in the Bharatiya Janata Party told Vajpayee that he was a poet and did not know the political implications of such a meeting,'' he alleged.

These people informed Vajpayee that 1,700 Indians were killed in Kargil and that it was not worth inviting Sharif to India, he said.

At one stage during the Kargil crisis, the Indians had planned to attack Neelam Valley in Azad Kashmir after crossing the LoC from ''Athmuquam'' and attack sensitive Pakistani installations, Naik claimed.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report