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When the 1972 Indo-Pak summit nearly failed

As the world focuses on the Indo-Pak Summit at Agra, dramatic events that occurred during a similar summit 29 years ago in Shimla may have their own relevance for Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the leader of a vanquished Pakistan, came to this picturesque hill station with 90,000 of his troops prisoners in Indian hands. During the next five days, Bhutto was to hold discussions with his triumphant Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi.

Five days of tough negotiations produced no breakthrough and the summit nearly ended on a note of failure, before the Simla Agreement was signed late in the night of July 2.

Indira Gandhi and Bhutto, the architects of Simla agreement, are no more. Military rule has replaced democracy in Pakistan; Kargil conflict and cross-border terrorism have added new dimensions to the Kashmir issue; the then leader of the opposition, Vajpayee, is at the centre-stage in a changed role, and even the name of Simla has been changed to Shimla.

During the 1972 summit, it was Vajpayee who rushed to Shimla and made a strong plea to Indira Gandhi to take a tough stand. He insisted that the "sacrifices made by the jawans should not be surrendered at the negotiation table".

Vajpayee was to address a public meeting, but he was not allowed to do so in the open. Instead a closed door meeting was held in the Jain Hall. He also addressed a press conference and reiterated his party's stand.

Now, as the prime minister of India, the same Vajpayee would be holding talks with a Pakistani president. Those who had seen him thundering at Shimla in 1972 would be keenly watching him.

Shimla summit was like a festival for the local people, and almost all important leaders, diplomats, national and international media and intelligence sleuths had descended on the 'Queen of Hills'.

The bitterness of the Indo-Pak war fought barely six months earlier was nowhere to be seen and the entire government machinery was busy making the best possible arrangements for the guests.

A large number of journalists had reached Shimla a few days before the summit and the Grand Hotel, situated close to the Mall, was made the media centre for daily briefing.

Indira Gandhi arrived in Shimla a day before Bhutto. She personally looked after the arrangements and even went to a local shop to select a new carpet for the room in Barne's Court - then called as the Himachal Bhawan - where Bhutto was to stay.

It was raining heavily on June 28 when Bhutto was to land at the Anadale helipad early in the morning. Indira Gandhi waited for more than six hours in her car and walked on the slushy helipad to receive Bhutto when he alighted from the helicopter along with his entourage.

The journalists and other dignitaries had also reached the helipad around 0600 hours. Most of the them had not had any breakfast and were feeling hungry. After waiting for nearly four hours, over a dozen journalists went to the house of a local journalist who was living near the helipad and all the ladies from the neighbourhood were called to prepare paranthas in bulk. Some of the journalists had breakfast in the house, while some other scribes were served paranthas at the helipad.

The posh Mall Road, where no vehicles were allowed, was turned into a highway. All the diplomats, senior journalists and other dignitaries were issued special permits to ply their vehicles on it, causing great inconvenience to the local people and tourists.

Benazir Bhutto, the 16-year-old charming daughter of the Pakistani prime minister, became a rage. Wherever she went, young boys and girls jostled to have a glimpse of her.

Benazir had enough time and she visited several shops. She even went to the Convent of Jesus and Mary School to meet the nuns who had taught her at Murry.

One evening, Indira Gandhi created a commotion by suddenly appearing on the Mall Road. She joined Benazir, who was also strolling on the Mall. The securitymen were taken aback and became panicky when the Indian prime minister threw caution to the winds and mingled freely with the people.

Swatantra Party leader Piloo Modi, an old friend of Bhutto, also reached during the summit and Bhutto spent his free time talking to him and playing billiards at the Barne's Court. Veteran journalist V R Mohinder, who was a close friend of Piloo Modi, joined them occasionally.

Piloo Modi also addressed a press conference and besides commenting on the talks, disclosed his intentions to write a book on Bhutto, which he eventually did.

During the first four days, there wasn't much for the scribes, as the talks made very little headway. Several rounds of parleys were held at the cabinet committee room in the state secretariat. Bhutto had the last round of talks with Indira Gandhi at the retreat where she was staying.

Bhutto addressed a press conference at the side hall of Barne's Court from an elevated platform on the evening of July 2, only to announce that the talks had failed. The hall was packed to the capacity with scribes and Bhutto's announcement came as an anti-climax.

The mediapersons virtually called it a day. Most of them started packing in order to leave the next morning. Suddenly, around 2200 hrs, word went around that something was cooking up and an agreement was likely to be signed. The journalists were virtually dragged out of their bed and within an hour all of them reached Barne's Court.

The arrival of Indira Gandhi and some other senior ministers confirmed the rumours that an agreement was being signed. When the stage was set for signing the agreement, the Doordarshan camera team was found missing. Desperate efforts were made to contact the crewmembers, because of which the signing of the agreement got delayed by 40 minutes.

The agreement was signed in such a hurry that there was no tablecloth on the agreement table and a curtain was pulled down to improvise one.

A tense Indira Gandhi looked sideways searching for something. A senior journalist, who was standing by her side, could guess that she wanted a pen and immediately offered her one. The curtain and the pen thus became a part of the history along with the table where a plaque and few photographs are displayed even today.

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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