LONDON, Oct 11: Former president Gen (retd) Parvez Musharraf has said that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh deserves 'full marks' for his 'sincere' efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue and have peace with Pakistan, but is held back from taking a bold step for fear of domestic political backlash.

He said it was Dr Singh, and not his predecessor Atal Behari Vajpayee, who deserved credit for a breakthrough in India-Pakistan relations.

“It was with Manmohan Singh that we moved forward towards an agreement, not with Mr Vajpayee,” he told NDTV in the second part of his widely-reported interview with Barkha Dutt.

“I give full marks to Manmohan Singh,” he said, but added that the Indian prime minister lacked 'courage' in giving any concession on Kashmir for fear of domestic pressures. “In any agreement, there is give and take... and it is the 'give' part that creates problems.”

Gen Musharraf said that India and Pakistan were close to an agreement before he lost power. “We were as close as drafting a final agreement.”

Asked how close they had come to an agreement on Kashmir and whether there was a specific draft, he said: “The draft was being formulated, that is the good thing, and it was being formulated in good spirit.”

He said that there was “nothing in the Lahore Declaration” that could form the basis for a settlement of the Kashmir dispute which, he insisted, must be resolved in the interest of genuine peace.

The declaration was signed by former Indian prime minister Vajpayee and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif during the former's visit to Pakistan in Feb 1999.

Gen Musharraf said he had seen the draft of the declaration and was surprised that there was “no mention” of Kashmir. He said a few sentences were drafted when he had told Mr Sharif that it made no sense. “But he (Mr Sharif) removed them from the final declaration. In a way, he bluffed me,” he said.

When the interviewer referred to the 'Agra Agreement' of 2001, Gen Musharraf said there was no agreement. It was only when the Congress returned to power in 2004 with Dr Singh as Prime Minister that the two countries “moved forward towards an agreement”.

He said Dr Singh had a “very good sense” about India-Pakistan relations. “I respect him very much,” he said.

The former president said he had “no regrets” over Kargil and described it as a result of the history of “confrontation” between the two countries.—Online