When Manmohan engaged Musharraf

No prime minister of India made a more constructive contribution towards establishing an equilibrium between India and Pakistan than Dr Manmohan Singh. Building on the Islamabad Declaration of January 2004, proclaimed jointly by prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and president Pervez Musharraf, Singh initiated with his counterpart a process of sustained dialogue which yielded the most positive results, specifically with regard to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir that, but for the perversity of destiny, might have opened the path to lasting peace and harmony.

In initiating the process, Singh fully recognised that finding a via media to the vexed question of J&K would be the optimal way of settling other issues. It was further agreed that a quiet backchannel was essential to a result-oriented dialogue. Second, the interlocutors chosen by both leaders were not chosen because of their position in the bureaucratic hierarchy but because of the immense trust Musharraf had in a friend, Tariq Aziz, and Singh had in a retired former high commissioner to Pakistan, Satinder Kumar Lambah. They reported only to their respective principals.