Dr Naved Musharraf

With a broad forehead, piercing eyes, a graying mustache and the familiar wide smile, Naved Musharraf strongly resembles his brother. But while Naved is a shy, reserved anaesthesiologist who shuns the limelight, his elder brother Pervez has always revelled in the spotlight.

Over a buffet lunch at a Chicago restaurant a day before the Agra summit started, the doctor spoke at length about his brother and Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, and his own prescription for peace on the subcontinent.

"Can't the leaders of Pakistan and India think of emulating Egypt's Anwar Sadat," he wonders aloud.

"The two countries have become hostage to the Kashmir issue and there are the hard-liners," continues the Chicago-based physician. "The only way to resolve the issue is that somebody has to give up something, just the way Anwar Sadat did. So one of the leaders has to reach that stage of statesmanship and make that supreme sacrifice.

"Sadat paid with his life.

"If I were the President of Pakistan I would go ahead and do it, for the sake of future generations. What is one life compared to the generations who died? I don't know if I will see peace in my lifetime, but I hope our children will."

But he does not spell out what the sacrifices should be, or who should make them.

If he were the President of Pakistan, how would he have tackled the Kashmir problem?

"It is not important now, " he snaps. "I don't want to add to the controversy...I'll pass that question."

"Just because my brother is the President of Pakistan, that does not make me special," says the youngest of three very accomplished brothers. (The eldest, Javed, is an agricultural economist and a director with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a branch of the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization.)

Dr. Musharraf has been in the United States for 27 years, and lives in a Chicago suburb with his Filipino wife and two college-going sons.

A keen follower of all political issues, especially those concerning the subcontinent, he's a member of the South-Asian Group of Action and Reflection, or SAGAR, an Illinois-based think tank which works towards Indo-Pak amity and other issues affecting South Asia. But the organization has been largely inactive in the past two years reportedly because of the work schedule of its members.

Last Friday, he had called Islamabad hoping to talk to President Musharraf before he left for India, but the general had already left. But Dr. Musharraf did speak to his 84-year old mother, who was following her second son's historic visit to India on television.

Naved Musharraf was 2 years old and his brother Pervez 5 when the family left for Pakistan after partition. Since then Dr. Naved Musharraf has never visited India, but he hopes to do so soon.

Returning to the summit, he says that while there was always hope whenever there is a dialogue between countries, his hope was also tempered with reality.

"We've gone through this so many times before and we've been let down. So one should not expect spectacular results from these three days of meetings," he says. "Everybody wants that there should be peace and normal relations, but again because of the history of the past 54 years and the mistrust, you cannot expect a spectacular break through. But it is the start of the dialogue, the beginning, if they keep at it, it is going to be a long hard road to peace."

If he did not sound optimistic, he adds, it was because "there is so much of mistrust between the two countries.

"If you look at the other places, like the Middle East, the Israel-Palestine issue. There was the Oslo accord, everybody was so optimistic that they'd found a solution to an age-old problem. Look what's happening now, there is a complete breakdown. Look what's happening in Ireland, there were all kinds of accords and deals, but the basic mistrust is still there."

The confidence building measures between the two countries could begin with a ceasefire between the militants and the security forces, he says. "It won't be a 100 per cent ceasefire but it (the violence) will be less because Pakistan can influence the militants.

"There should (also) be a cease-fire along the Control line between India and Pakistan. Both the countries should mutually withdraw from Siachen," he adds. .

"I've been there to the base camp, it is such a beautiful place, but it doesn't make sense to have troops in that place. Both the countries are suffering. It will be a great token gesture, but a very important confidence building measure."

Naved (2nd from right) with brother Pervez, his wife Sehba, and their sons.

Pakistan and India "should both sign the CTBT and NPT simultaneously," he continues. "Can you imagine what will be the effect on the world if we do? It will be good for the entire world. What are we going to lose? It is not going to undermine any country's sovereignty, but it will be a very strong and powerful message to the world that we want peace."

The general had also told him that most of the people of Pakistan want the Kashmir issue to be resolved according to the UN resolution which calls for a plebiscite should be held in Kashmir. "Let the Kashmiris decide which country they want to join. That has not been honored and Pakistan's stand is that it should be honoured. "India has already decided that Kashmir should be an integral part of it," he adds. "It should be resolved according to will of the people of Kashmir, which can be determined by a free plebiscite.

"The other proposal is that there should be a delineation of the border according to ethnic, religious lines...the Srinagar Valley, which is predominantly Muslim, should join Pakistan and the Ladakh area, which is Buddhist, and the Jammu area in the South which is predominantly Hindu, I'm sure would want to stay with India."

"Another idea is to grant the respective areas of control, autonomy just short of complete independence. Let there be free trade and travel between the areas in Kashmir and the two countries."

His brother might be more amenable to the option of dividing Kashmir on ethnic lines rather than making the LOC a permanent solution, he asserts.

"Unfortunately both sides are taking maximalist positions," he added. "Musharraf is a realist, he knows that ideology can carry you only so far. He wants peace but maybe on his terms."

But Vajpayee went to Lahore in 1998 and six months later there was a war in Kargil, masterminded by General Musharraf. Why should India trust Musharraf?

"Mistrust is on both sides," Naved Musharraf said. "Ever since 1947 there has been bad blood on both sides, so the mistrust is mutual. After partition Pakistan was in a very precarious situation. We didn't have a proper functioning government, no money, even the money due to us was stopped by India.

"On top of that the Kashmir problem started right away and India wanted to blow Pakistan right away, make it still born. So that mistrust started a long time ago and it is still going on. And then there was Bangladesh in 1971. So it is on both sides. Pakistan helped the Khalistanis in the eighties and they 're helping the militants now, so it is tit for tat. Somehow we have to learn to break that cycle of violence and mistrust, somebody has to break the ice."

Is Musharraf obsessed with Kashmir?

"I don't think you could call it an obsession but it is a central issue for him," he says. "He wants to resolve the issue according to what the people of Pakistan want.

"The Herald did a survey in 1987 on the 50th anniversary of our independence. They asked people 50 questions, one of which was if they favored the LOC as the permanent border between India and Pakistan. The vast majority, 70 per cent said,`no.' So Pervez Musharraf has to reflect public opinion."

Similarly Vajpayee too has to reflect the public opinion in India. No political party in India will accept secession of Kashmir, he adds. "To find a middle road between these two extreme positions is so difficult, given our mistrust of each other," he says. "I don't know what the middle ground is."

Peace with India is the most paramount thing for Pakistan, he said, admitting the country is in a bad shape because of the heavy burden of debt. The sanctions imposed after the nuclear tests have harmed the economy, he continues.

"I think there should be political stability to attract investors," he adds. "There should be domestic tranquility; all the religious strife, Shia-Sunni violence and the extremists should be curbed. Most important, there should be peace with India."

"We have tremendous potential. We have a lot of natural resources, our people are hardworking, but we need the right conditions."

The Pakistani political parties, and many political observers across the globe, may wonder if General Pervez Musharraf is serious about bringing back democracy in Pakistan, particularly after he declared himself President and dissolved the provincial and national assemblies.

But to his brother, Naved, there is nothing duplicitous about the General.

"He has not put any restrictions on the press-electronic and print media," he said. "They've been criticizing him from day one. He has promised that elected governments will be restored and the first step to that was already taken when local body elections were held and they'll come into effect on August 14. That is step one."

The second step will be provisional elections, and third is to hold national elections around this time next year. "That is what the Supreme Court has mandated. It has given him three years, so he is duty bound to do it. Elections will be held."

General Musharraf "doesn't hide it in diplomatic niceties," the brother says. "He is straightforward and honest. At the same time his toughness is mixed with realism. Ever since he gained power, I'm sure he's become more of a realist."

But people say he will always remain a general at heart...

"Being an army man is not a bad thing," says the doctor. "It might be a good thing because he has seen the ravages of war. I don't think any sane person will be for another war. Nobody in his right mind will favor a war as the solution to the problem. Only an extremist, lunatic fringe will want war."

Pervez Musharraf also exudes self-confidence. Where does that come from?

"He was always like that, since he was a school kid. He was a very outgoing person, had lots of friends, very extroverted person, fond of athletics. He didn't do great in academics but he did well in sports When he passed out of the Military Academy in 1964, he was second in his class. He always had leadership qualities. He was fond of sports. He used to play squash, but it was strenuous on his knees, so he's taken up tennis. I've played with him a few times."

Naved Musharraf talks to his mother once a week, but once in a month to his brother.

"We don't talk politics over the phone," he says, "just family matters." But they talk politics when they meet.

Is it true that their mother constantly worries for Pervez Musharraf's life? After all, hasn't he cheated death not once, but almost five times?

"As a mother, seeing her son in a difficult spot, it is one of the hardest jobs in the world, so naturally she is worried," he says. "But she has faith in God."

And finally, does the president respect the opinion of his younger brother, the doctor? A chuckle. "Well, he listens!"

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