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Sanjeev Chopra's book details Shastri's many contributions to nation, party
The 1965 war, Pakistan's second attempt to seize Kashmir, ended in Tashkent with Lal Bahadur Shastri returning the Haji Pir Pass - a gesture that disappointed even his family
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The Great Conciliator: Lal Bahadur Shastri and the Transformation of India
by Sanjeev Chopra
Bloomsbury
370 pages ₹899
India's stated policy is that there can be no international intervention to resolve the Kashmir issue — that it can only be done bilaterally. Variations on this theme range from total rejection of any international intervention to tentative acceptance of technical assistance. But the reality is that in past wars (including near-wars/skirmishes/standoffs) with Pakistan, pressure, even direct intervention, from foreign powers has contributed significantly to ending them. The most manifest evidence of this was the 1965 war that concluded with the Soviet Union-brokered Tashkent Agreement
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