Recalling Vajpayee’s contribution and citing his Lahore bus journey in 1999, Hizbul ceasefire and the talks in 2000, Malik says: “Today the people of South Asia are in need of precisely the type of visionary steps you have heralded in the past. While events often took unpredictable turns, throughout your tenure as Prime Minister you have consistently tried to create openings and take bold steps. Despite many upsets, you still persisted”.

Then Malik goes into details of NDA’s track II with the separatists. “For six months, you directly engaged the then united (Hurriyat), led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, through your team including R K Mishra and Brajesh Mishra. R K Mishra had conveyed the seriousness of your government to me and quoted you as saying: ‘Before going from this world, I wish to resolve the Kashmir issue.’”

“I met the Congress leadership including the current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the then chairperson of the Rajya Sabha Najma Heptullah (now your party colleague). At the end of that meeting, the current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked me as to what did we expect from the Congress. I replied that ‘as Opposition, support Vajpayee fully.’ Within 24 hours...a Congress party delegation including Manmohan Singh, Natwar Singh and Arjun Singh met you and the Congress party openly endorsed your initiative to start a serious peace process,” Malik says in his letter.

Giving all the credit for initiating the Indo-Pak peace process to Vajpayee, Malik says: “You (Vajpayee) persisted in your attempts to open a peace process on Kashmir and despite Kargil you invited President Musharraf for the Agra Summit in July 2001...when you extended a historical handshake of friendship to Pakistan and Kashmiris on the soil of Kashmir (in April 2003) was the start of the current peace process.”

... contd.