LAHORE, FEB 19: If boarding the bus is symbolic of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's historic gesture to Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif is reciprocating in good measure. In a rare gesture, he has asked all three of his service chiefs to fly down to Lahore tomorrow to meet the Indian Prime Minister. And the next day, Vajpayee is scheduled to visit Minar-e-Pakistan, a post-Partition monument that was erected to mark the country's birth. This will be followed by a visit to poet Iqbal's mazaar. Iqbal, the country's national poet, wrote saare jahan se achcha Hindostan hamara.As symbols, these are powerful enough to mark a new chapter in bilateral relations. And it's no wonder that the world is watching. The Wagah encounter between the two Prime Ministers therefore is as much a media spectacle as a political event.
By mid-afternoon, a specially chartered Airbus 300 had winged its 40-minute way from Delhi to Lahore and disgorged some 180-odd journalists, cameramen and anchor-women at Lahore's InternationalAirport.
By 4 pm, the media centre at Lahore's Avanti Hotel was abuzz with activity, as people rushed around like crazy to complete formalities, contact home bases and generally set up systems.
``It's the biggest media event we've handled,'' says a harassed-looking Dinesh K Patnaik, officer on special duty (press relations). His office back in Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi, had processed some 250 applications from media persons wishing to cover this event.
So was it a carefully staged affair? A public relations exercise by a Prime Minister desperately looking for some ``positive publicity'' both at home and abroad? Patnaik does't see it that way. ``There seems to be a natural curiosity in the border crossing. People wanted to come, so we made it possible for them,'' he shrugs.
A correspondent for the ABC two decades ago says that it reminds him of the buzz created at the time of the Shimla Accord in 1972. ``Those were exciting times. Everybody who was anybody in the media wanted to be there,'' hereminisces.
On the streets of Lahore, however, there is hope laced with realism. In his piece published in today's The News, analyst M A K Lodhi seems to choose his words carefully while describing the popular mood. He says it's one of ``cautious but calculated optimism.''
But perhaps he's being a trifle too optimistic when he says this. Today, in downtown Lahore, many angry men from the Jamaat-e-Islam demonstrated against the border meeting. ``They are like your Shiv Sena,'' says Mohammed Rafi, proprietor of Hotel Rafiq in Lahore's busy shopping area, Anar Kali. ``They let their artificially created hatred rob them of their sense.''
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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