India and Pakistan

The former External Affairs Minister also spoke on a wide
range of issues during the interview, including relations
between India and Pakistan.

Singh refuted the impression that the two countries came
close to a nuclear war during a military standoff in 2002 that
was triggered by an attack on Indian Parliament by Pakistan-
based terror groups Lashker-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
He dismissed the impression as a "canard" spread by the
then US envoy in New Delhi. "We did not come close to nuclear
war," he said.
However, he acknowledged that relations between India and
Pakistan had "experienced frequent fractures."
Singh also pointed out that he did not subscribe to
"nuclear apartheid" and said India and Pakistan have the
sovereign right to pursue their own nuclear doctrines.
Asked about the 2001 summit in Agra between the then
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and ex-Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf, Singh said Musharraf's "grandstanding" at a
news conference before an agreement was due to be signed put
off other Indian ministers and scuttled the pact.
Referring to the fallout of the joint statement
containing reference to Balochistan, which was issued last
month after a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and his counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Egypt, Singh said:
"Better drafting could have helped (prevent the) incident."
He added: "We have to tread the path very carefully.
There are unseen hidden traps." India and Pakistan must stop
living in the past as they "cannot change geography now," he
said. PTI RHL
DDC


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