ILLUSION OF PEACE

A warlike general turned into a surprise peddler of solutions to history's problems. India, too, had a gifted pacifist in Vajpayee. But it was too fraught a time for even the boldest entrepreneurs of peace

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It may call for a particularly tolerant psychiatrist to understand the tics of split personality that India and Pakistan exhibit towards each other. Contrary emotions coexist. Hate is like a sibling feud—the obverse of the coin exists too, and becomes manifest in the most schizoid fashion. Peace follows war follows peace. After Pokhran-II and its ricochet across the border, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had sallied boldly forth on a bus to deescalate matters. But Lahore led to Kargil. At that stage, the well-set batsman would wait for the reverse swing. Sure enough, it came. Only the source was surprising.