At what time Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he stir up memories of his invitation to then PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to Lahore in February 1999. He wanted to revisit the Lahore Declaration, Sharif said, and pick up the threads from where things had to be abandoned in October 1999.
If there was any uncertainty about the sincerity of his assertion, he followed it up with an actual meeting on Tuesday with Vajpayee who has been paralyzed for many years now.
The two leaders were the draftsman’s of the famous Lahore Declaration which followed Vajpayee’s bus ride to Lahore in 1999.
Sharif came to the Wagah border to receive him. Vajpayee and Sharif brought about the most dramatic, if temporary, turnaround in relations within a year of the hostility triggered by nuclear tests carried out by both sides.
The countries agreed in the historic declaration to keep their nuclear arsenal under check, a major step towards peace. But soon after the Lahore Declaration, the Kargil war broke out, leading many to claim that Sharif had backstabbed Vajpayee.
Sharif, however, later claimed that he had been kept in the dark about Kargil by Musharraf. Later that year, he was deposed in a coup by Pervez Musharraf.
A leading newspaper on Tuesday had reported that Sharif was going to visit Vajpayee. Pakistan high commission officials said that Sharif met Vajpayee for around 25-30 minutes at his Krishna Menon Marg residence.
Sharif asked Vajpayee’s doctors about the leader’s ill health and said he would pray for Vajpayee’s well being. Vajpayee has been unable to speak since 2009 after he suffered a stroke.
According to Pakistan sources, Sharif was keen to meet Vajpayee even before he left for Delhi. The meeting however couldn’t be confirmed owing to issues related to Vajpayee’s health.
Late on Tuesday, the government decided to confirm the meeting after consulting senior BJP leaders. No photographers were allowed to capture the moment. The high commission officials, too, didn’t release any photograph.