Jaswant Singh, his book and the now-famous story of his expulsion from the BJP continue to hog the limelight in Pakistani papers. Copies of his book were reportedly flying off the shelves of bookstores even before his promotional visit to Pakistan was announced, and later, called off.

Ejaz Haider, in his August 24 column in Daily Times narrates his telephonic encounter with Singh, implying that in Singh’s misery, Pakistanis have caught the wrong end of the stick. “He said he was deeply wounded by his party’s decision even as he admitted that the RSS guides the hand of BJP — I don’t know of any such admission coming from a BJP leader before...He came across as someone who undertook and did the job with sincerity. He had no reason to curry favour with a Pakistani interviewer and with the Pakistani audience. In fact, if he could and did, for a man in his circumstances, that would be a big negative — a kiss of death, if you will. How have we reacted to this? Have I heard anyone say that Jaswant Singh, a leader of the rightwing BJP, has had the courage to write objectively about Mr Jinnah? No. Instead of focussing on Mr Singh, we are focused on the fuming and utterly misplaced Parivar cadres.”

Dawn reported on August 27: “Jaswant Singh, whose book on Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah has raked up a storm in India, resulting in his expulsion from the Bharatiya Janata Party, is not coming to Pakistan as announced earlier by local promoters of the book... However, they said on Wednesday that the Indian government had blocked his visit by refusing to issue a no-objection certificate, apparently for fears that a rousing welcome in Pakistan for the right-wing politician would compound the political rage in India over his research work on the partition of the subcontinent.”

... contd.