The peacemaker
The bus yatra to Lahore was instrumental in easing Indo-Pak ties after the two countries had conducted nuclear tests just a few months earlier. When the Kargil incursions took place two months later, the world saw Vajpayee as the peacemaker and Pakistan as the aggressor
One of the defining moments of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure was his Lahore bus yatra in February 1999. It was a decision that had the potential to fundamentally alter relations between India and Pakistan and, ever the consummate politician, Vajpayee was astute enough to see it and bold enough to convince the naysayers.
As the joint secretary dealing with disarmament and international security affairs in the Union ministry for external affairs, I had been involved with all the rounds of foreign secretary-level talks that had taken place, somewhat intermittently, since 1990. The current format of the Composite Dialogue, agreed upon during Prime Minister
