Secondly, when the seemingly endless Ayub-Shastri discussions on Kashmir were deadlocked, the Field-Marshal made one last appeal to the Indian Prime Minister. They were conversing in chaste Urdu. Here is their crucial exchange:

 Ayub: “Kashmir ke mamle mein kuchh aisa kar deejay ki main bhi apne mulk mein munh dikhane ke qabil rahoon (About Kashmir please make some arrangement so that I may be able to show my face to my country)”.  

Shastri: “Sadar Saheb, mein bahut maafi chahata hoon kay iss mamle mein aap ki koi khidmat nahin kar sakta (Mr. President, I apologize profusely because in this matter I cannot be any service to you”. (Source: Notes maintained by Shastri’s confidant C. P. Srivastava.) 

Shastri and Ayub signed the Tashkent Declaration at 4 pm on January 10. Great jubilation and heavy drinking followed. Around midnight local time, the triumph at Tashkent was overtaken by the tragedy of Shastri’s death.

When the news reached the Pakistani delegation the reaction was loud. Roused from sleep, Bhutto testily asked his loyal foreign secretary Aziz Ahmed, “What is it Aziz”?  He replied, “Sir, the bastard is dead”. Bhutto: “Which one”?