Leading from the front is Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, the master of theories and solutions. His latest has been during a CNN interview last Tuesday. Moving away from his Kashmir centric "freedom struggle’’ tirades, Musharraf the General took on the garb of an Economist and talked of illiteracy and poverty giving rise to extremism and terrorism. Perhaps, it is a rub off from his Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who has worked with Citibank and is credited with some of Pakistan’s economic revival.

Musharraf said his strategy of "enlightened moderation’’ is a win-win situation for everybody. Under this vision, the Muslim world should do away with extremism and embrace socio-economic development. He said Pakistan was keeping a long-term perspective in tackling extremism through poverty alleviation, aligning "madrassas’’ into the education system and by curbing the misuse of mosques for teaching hatred and distribution of hate material. One is used to the idea of Musharraf the master strategist, the dictator, the politician, but not economist.

Last month, Musharraf came up with yet another idea on how to solve the Kashmir issue. Musharraf said a solution to Kashmir should be on a people and regional basis. Musharraf had in November last spoken about community based demilitarizing of regions in Kashmir. This time he ruled out a solution on the basis of religion. Musharraf said that various viewpoints need to be incorporated: India’s stand of no re-drawing of borders, Pakistan’s view that the Line of Control (that separates Indian and Pakistan Kashmir) cannot be a permanent border and boundaries becoming irrelevant.

Stating that "we do understand India’s sensitivities of its secular credentials,’’ Musharraf urged: "identify a region, allow maximum self governance to people, demilitarize and take some action to make the border irrelevant.’’ Musharraf proposed granting maximum autonomy to Kashmiris and withdrawing troops, before softening borders between the two sides of the divided Himalayan region. Just so that he did not sound as if he is selling out to India, Musharraf also hinted about the presence of a third international party to oversee matters.

Unlike Musharraf, brimming with ideas, Manmohan, hemmed in by coalition partners and powerful satraps within the Congress party and a tussle for turf with the foreign ministry, has chosen to play it safe in comparison. He has said that the peace process will take its own time, given the long history.

However, he did add a caveat. Till date, India has been working towards peace with Pakistan on the basis of a by now established approach — that terror and talks with Pakistan are two separate issues that need to be tackled independently. While the security forces continue to come down hard on terrorist outfits, the peace talks are expected to deliver on less grassroots support for terrorism as the people of the two countries continue to increase their interactions. The separation of terrorism from talks has been the singular approach of India which has resulted in much progress in the past year and a half. This view is also based on the fact that perhaps Musharraf does not have the wherewithal to wipe out the monster of terrorism, buttressed over the years by the establishment.

In response to Musharraf’s latest ideas, Singh took the oft-repeated stand that progress could only be made if Pakistan fulfilled a promise to clamp down on militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir from bases within Pakistan. However, he has warned that peace talks between the two countries were still vulnerable to the next terrorist attack. "If we have a major attack like the one on parliament (December, 2001), that could upset the whole process," Manmohan told a group of journalists. Perhaps this was a little toughening on the part of Manmohan who is sometimes criticized as too gentle, when it comes to tackling his own colleagues.

One other person desperate for an image makeover like Musharraf, is Advani, the Leader of Opposition, former deputy prime minister and home minister, regarded as the architect of the Hindutva movement in the 90s, that aimed at polarizing votes on the basis of religious identity. One of his first utterances in Pakistan has been that he wanted the people to know that he does not wear "horns’’ and is not a "hawk.’’

Advani has been at pains to explain that he did not scuttle the Agra summit in 2001 and Musharraf is a man to be "trusted.’’ "This is wrong that it was my decision at Agra. Rather the whole cabinet was of the view that the Agra summit and declaration was not (going) in the right direction,’’ said Advani, referring to the historic meeting between Musharraf and then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. On the contrary Advani said that it was on his suggestion that Musharraf was invited to India for the summit. "I suggested to the Prime Minister to invite the President. There were voices of dissent in the Cabinet but the Prime Minister acted on my suggestion.’’

About his meeting with Musharraf during his visit Advani said: "I met him and there is trust in India... I think if we have to move forward we’ll have to trust each other, otherwise we can’t go (forward) with the peace initiative.’’ About the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1991, he reiterated that it was the saddest day of his life.

What is more, he described Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the father of Pakistan, as a "rare individual’’ who created history and espoused the cause of secular Pakistan. Advani laid a wreath at Jinnah’s mausoleum, which no Indian leader has done before. It was an extremely loaded gesture aimed at delivering the message of being a secular messiah.

Showering praise on Jinnah goes completely against the thought of the BJP and its affiliate parties who together form the sangh parivar. These parties consider Jinnah to be the leader of a virulent anti-Hindu campaign in cahoots with the British that ultimately led to partition of the Muslim majority Pakistan in 1947. Even the Congress party, whom the Muslims have traditionally backed, has desisted from praising Jinnah, due to his espousal of the "two-nation’’ theory based on religious majorities.

Advani, himself is referred to as the Hindu Jinnah for his virulent pushing of pro-Hindu politics. Predictably, the sangh parivar associates the Vishwa Hindu Parishar (VHP) and the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) called for Advani’s removal as head of the BJP, which prompted Advani to resign once back in India. Some observers have gone to the extent of saying that Advani’s has written his political epitaph in Pakistan. Other say the change is only skin-deep and Advani has gotten carried away by the emotion of his trip as he was born in Karachi. For now, in a face-saving exercise, Advani has withdrawn his resignation.