Vol. 6 | issue 7 | August 2012
MANDARIN MATTERS
ambassadors club k n bakshi
It’s a boy
The making of the Simla Agreement and the lessons we should learn
In
the joint production that was the Simla summit, we had written the
script so far; but, as the play evolved, the script came to be
increasingly written and played out by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the large
contingent of ‘performers’ he had carefully chosen to bring along with
him. Bhutto, who had repeatedly spoken of a thousand-year war with
India, was all sugar and honey, smiles and warmth, friendship and
cooperation, peace and prosperity – in public or in private.
* * *
But,
the talks failed; there was no agreement. We returned to our hotel and
were preparing to leave Simla the next day. There was only one official
engagement left; the return banquet hosted by Bhutto. Much of the dinner
proceeded in a very vocal silence. We were waiting for dessert when
Mrs. Gandhi and Bhutto simply got up and walked out of the hall. Just
like that! We didn’t know what was happening. We all stood up, not
knowing what to do. Swaran Singh had the presence of mind to say
something about sitting down after the two had left. And so we did.
Dessert came. In between, PN Haksar and Rafi Raza got up and left the
hall. Coffee was served. A few more from both sides joined the two
leaders. The dinner came to an end. We trooped out of the hall into the
foyer. Slowly, most people left. And then it happened.
The
scene is still vivid in my memory. Benazir, PM’s Social Secretary Usha
Bhagat, Bhutto’s Press Secretary Khalid Hassan, Nareshwar and I stood
outside the room where the two leaders were meeting. Haskar Sahib came
out of the room slowly walked towards us and started lighting his pipe.
Usha Bhagat asked him: Haskar Sahib, ladki hui ki ladka? (Haksar sahib,
is it a girl or a boy?) Haksar Sahib took his time, smiled a little,
cleared his throat, and said “Ladka hua aur woh bhi MA pass”. (It is a
boy – that too with a Master’s degree) We had reached an agreement.
* * *
Unknown
to us officials, a meeting had taken place between the PM and Bhutto in
the late afternoon of July 2, 1972. No one else was present. There was
nothing new in what Bhutto told the PM, but he conveyed it to her with
an even greater passion than he demonstrated in public. In every turn of
phrase, every gesture and expression, he emphasised that he wanted
peace with India. He said, he was fully convinced that conflict cannot
resolve anything, that the future lies only in cooperation, and that
they have a historic duty to write a new chapter in bilateral relations.
He played upon his relatively short (and short-lived) democratic
credentials. He emphasised that he had just been elected as President;
democracy was new in Pakistan; he had enemies all around him – in the
armed forces, in the establishment, in the political opposition. They
would kill him if he was seen to have capitulated. He underlined that he
represented a defeated nation, and that he did not have any concessions
to offer; on the other hand, India was the victor and only India could
give any concessions. In conclusion, he asked Mrs. Gandhi to help him by
showing statesmanship..........................READ MORE
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