On Kashmir & back channel diplomacy

It is true that there had been enough progress on this matter (resolving Kashmir issue through back channel diplomacy). Before the Lahore Accord, Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee had told me that 1999 would be the year of solution of the Kashmir problem, acceptable to both India and Pakistan. I told Vajpayee that a solution should be found acceptable to Kashmiris as well. Vajpayee expressed his agreement and thus back channel diplomacy started. Then, the Kargil episode took place, and India stopped the dialogue. India’s view was that it was stabbed in the back, and this was not untrue either.

On Intelligence Agencies

Intelligence agencies in Pakistan have become very powerful. Action is taken without informing the president or the PM. Nowhere else in the world it is thought that intelligence agencies could work without the permission of the government...