Jaswant charges Musharraf with 'military simplicism'

new delhi: in a very left-handed compliment to the general, external affairs minister jaswant singh has credited pakistan president pervez musharraf with "military simplicism." this he implied was part-responsible for the way the agra summit ended. singh came up with the phrase while taking part on monday in a lok sabha debate on the india-pakistan summit.prime minister atal behari vajpayee will reply to the discussion on tuesday. "this is a kind of military simplicism, if i can put it as politely as i can," singh said. he was referring also to the 'soldierly directness,' the general boasted he had after his return to islamabad. but the minister said agra, where intricate issues were to be discussed, was not the place to display that quality. singh came up with no startling revelations, but some interesting nuggets of what went on behind the scenes. he repeated pakistan's reluctance to agree on an agenda before the talks began, though delhi offered its suggestions. even the pakistan establishment, he charged, had not been taken into confidence by musharraf before the visit. while india had come up with a prepared text on what its prime minister would say at the delegation-level talks, pakistan's was being drafted at the last minute. the minister told parliament about the general's insistence to include delhi in his programme. india had earlier suggested that atal behari vajpayee and musharraf meet in goa. musharraf then talked directly to vajpayee, saying that he must come to delhi. there was more. india suggested that after the ceremonial reception and the formal luncheon on the first day, the two leaders go directly to agra. but the general said that he wanted to spend a night in delhi. "should we have said you can't stay," singh asked. he said india had to play a good host, though pakistan broke diplomatic norms several times. in agra, on july 15, while the two leaders talked, india suggested that their officials sit down at around 5 pm to draft a joint statement. but the pakistani officials "will just not sit with our officials." this was because, singh said, they had no directions or documents. they finally agreed to begin discussing the statementt - india had prepared a couple of drafts - at 11 pm. the two sides then worked through the night till 4.30 am on july 16, the day musharraf was supposed to leave agra after lunch. impelled no doubt by "military directness," musharraf wanted then that he and vajpayee themselves work on the draft. this, singh said is never done, and it was suggested that the general should let the foreign ministers do the drafting. at this stage the draft had six "square brackets" indicating areas where the two sides were in disagreement. countering pakistan's suggestion that the two sides had "almost" reached agreement on the statement, singh said a draft remained just that till it was signed by the heads. this never happened. singh defended the government's decision to talk to pakistan after refusing to do so for about two years after kargil. he said it was well thought out decision; india wanted to give peace another chance. he reiterated india's stand against cross-border terrorism. he said india told the general that it rejected pakistan's view that jammu and kashmir should be part of that country simply because it was a muslim-majority state. musharraf was told there were several districts in india where muslims were in a majority. going by islamabad's theory, should those districts should be put on railway rakes and transferred to pakistan, musharraf was asked. singh said jammu and kashmir was not the cause of the kind of approach taken by pakistan. instead it was the consequence of consistent pakistani posture of "compulsive and perpetual hostility" against india as a means of sustaining its nationhood, which was born in hostility. india believed in civic nationalism, in contrast to pakistan's idea of a denominational nationalism, he said. jaswant singh half-conceded that india could have managed its media better. but he said, india did not need to act in a manner pakistan did. unlike islamabad, which was india-centric, delhi dealt with the international community. india, he also said, was not diminished by what musharraf does.