THE former foreign ministers of India were visiting to promote a book on the Quaid-i-Azam written by one of their number, Jaswant Singh, and it fell to a former Pakistani foreign minister, Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, to gather them at a lunch with so many of their Pakistani counterparts. Among those who were gathered included Jaswant and Mr Kasuri, obviously, but also Sartaj Aziz, Gohar Ayub Khan and Abdus Sattar from the Pakistan side, and Natwar Singh, who had been Ambassador in Islamabad too, as well as Mani Shankar Aiyer, a former petroleum minister, who had started life in the Indian Foreign Service. There, as well as at the succeeding book launching, the Indian FMs found themselves expressing sentiments and stating facts which they did not while handling their portfolios. The acceptance as genuine of Pakistans concerns over Kashmir and water by Natwar Singh had a particular significance, as he was the only Congress ex-foreign minister in the delegation at a time when Congress is in office. His promise to convey these concerns should therefore be given due weight. However, the blame thrown on various unnamed 'forces for not wanting improved ties between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours by Mr Kasuri, merely reflected the Indian line which believes, on the face of it, that peace can be achieved by increased people-to-people contacts. This also represents an Indian attempt to avoid blame not only for its aggression against Pakistan, but for its all-round bullying behaviour in the region with its neighbours. Therefore, instead of countenancing Indian machinations to promote its desires in the Subcontinent, the visiting ex-ministers must prevent the Indian establishment from promoting its anti-Pakistan agenda. However, it must be kept in mind that when in office, these former ministers were as vigorous as their successors, both past and present, in doing Pakistan down. They should be as vigorous in future, this time in the service of truth and justice, instead of misconceived national interest.