Did PM know it beforehand?

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 21. Did the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, jump the gun on the change of guard in the Presidential palace in Pakistan?

Yes, if reports in a section of the Pakistani press are to be believed. At least two leading dailies here have produced purported extracts of the conversation between Mr. Vajpayee and the Pakistani military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, at 10.45 a.m. during which the Indian premier addressed the latter as President.

At the time the conversation took place, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was still the President. The decision to remove Mr. Tarar was taken after the telephone conversation, and Gen. Musharraf sworn in as President only at 4.30 p.m.

According to the reports, Mr. Vajpayee is reported to have began his conversation with the greeting ``Good morning, Mr. President''.

``Mr. Prime Minister, I'm not the President,'' Gen. Musharraf protested politely. But Mr. Vajpayee persisted and congratulated him.

According to the Urdu daily, Jang, the conversation went on like this:

Gen. Musharraf: ``Mr. Prime Minister, you are congratulating me for what?''

Mr. Vajpayee: ``Mr. President, I'm congratulating you beforehand on assuming the office of President after a few hours.''

Gen. Musharraf: ``Mr. Prime Minister, I too thank you beforehand for the congratulations.''

Mr. Vajpayee then informed Gen. Musharraf that he was anxiously looking forward to his visit to India, beginning on July 14, and that he would be received with full honours.

``Thank you, Prime Minister Sahib. Our meeting would be fruitless without meaningful talks on resolving the Kashmir issue,'' Gen. Musharraf replied.

Mr. Vajpayee: ``Certainly Kashmir will be discussed, along with other issues.''

Gen. Musharraf: ``Surely I will discuss other issues too, apart from the main Kashmir dispute.''

Both leaders then agreed that statements which could cloud their summit meeting should not be issued. While one paper claimed the call lasted 16 minutes, the other said it went on for 20 minutes.

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