Why should Vajpayee take Musharraf seriously?
Many people are asking why Vajpayee should take Musharraf as a serious negotiating partner — because he is a military ruler and dictator and has not been elected by the people. The reason why Nawaz Sharief’s dialogue with Vajpayee did not go very far was because the military was not taken into confidence. What Musharraf is doing is that he is not only taking the military into confidence, but is also taking the political opinion in Pakistan into consideration. He is visiting India through a process of having held negotiations with the key political parties and has worked out a kind of consensus about the dialogue. Does General Musharraf have the required credibility to pull the talks off? In terms of the formal position that Musharraf has, it is unprecedented. He is the president of Pakistan, he is the commander of the armed forces, he is the chief of army staff, chairman of the joint staff committee, the chief executive and also heads the National Security Council. One person — Gener
