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New Delhi: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is in the line of fire for allegedly giving a wrong account of events in his just published book.
Delhi-based journalist Pradeep Singh, Hindi translator of Musharraf's book In the Line of Fire, is not convinced about accuracy of facts, particularly in chapters dealing with Kargil war and the failed Agra summit of 2001. "Autobiography cannot be factually incorrect," Singh, 51, told Gulf News yesterday.
According to him, Musharraf has tried to use this book to give a message to people in Pakistan that he is the lone saviour for them and to the international community that they cannot fight terrorism without his support.
Political editor
"During the course of translating the book, I often felt that he did not try to authenticate his facts and figures. I was totally unconvinced with his account of Kargil war and Agra summit. At times I could not proceed and had to convince myself that it is his book, not mine," Singh, currently political editor of Hindi daily Amar Ujala, said.
Singh's name does figure as translator on the book's jacket to be launched in the market soon. The original plan to have simultaneous launch of both English and Hindi versions had to be shelved as Musharraf wanted to personally check the chapter on Kargil. He sent the clearance after just adding one paragraph that is not part of the original book.
New para
The new para just clarifies that since the Line of Control is not clearly demarcated in Kargil, it is a common practice of troops from both sides of the border to try and capture some land when they return towards the end of winter.
A postgraduate in economics from Lucknow University, Singh was approached to translate the book by the publishers Rave Media towards the end of July.
"It took me more time than I had expected. Towards the end I worked non-stop for 24 hours one day and worked for another 18 hours after catching some sleep. May be the stature of the writer forced me to be extra careful," he said.
The original plan to have simultaneous launch of both English and Hindi versions had to be shelved as Musharraf wanted to personally check the chapter on Kargil.
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