London: Former external affairs minister
Jaswant Singh has claimed that he was behind former prime
minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee`s historic bus trip to Lahore in
1999 and mooted the Agra Summit in 2001.
The former BJP leader, who created a storm by writing
a book on Pakistan`s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah plans to
visit Islamabad towards the end of March or early April to
establish peace between both the countries.
"Prime Ministers don`t ordinarily travel by bus. I
suggested to Prime Minister Vajpayee - and it was in New York
that this suggestion was made - that why not travel to Lahore
by bus`," Singh told journalists after a launch of the
international edition of his book "Jinnah: India, Partition,
Independence" in the House of Commons yesterday.
Vajpayee then addressed the citizens of Pakistan on
TV where he said: "Ye bus Lohe aur Ispat ki nahi hai, Jasbat
ki hai. Bahut ho gaya, ab hamein khoon bahana bandh karna
chahiye" (This bus is not just of iron and steel but about our
emotions. Enough is enough, now we must end this bloodshed.)
Asserting that he would devote his time for bringing
about peace between India and Pakistan, Singh said it was he
who subsequently thought of the 2001 Agra Summit.
Singh said he persisted with peacemaking even though
India was "betrayed" by Pakistan`s subsequent attack on Kargil
and terrorist strikes on the Jammu and Kashmir assembly and
Indian Parliament. "We persisted. We invited (then Pakistan
President) Pervez Musharraf to Agra.
PTI
