Naik shared controversial remarks with diplomats8217;

8220;The division would have meant formalisation of the Line of Control with some mutually accepted adjustments on Jammu, Ladakh and the Kashmir Valley, which would have been given time-bound autonomy,8221; writes Talat Hussain.

The paper said that Naik gave these details in the past as part of the larger workable, final and permanent solution discussed during a dozen round of talks that started in March this year as a follow up to the Lahore declaration.

Naik named this proposal the 8220;Chenab Solution,8221; which was discussed with R K Mishra, a Ministry of External Affairs official, who had worked out a time frame in which to implement this.

The paper says that Naik also has in his possession three key documents 8211;the first a draft proposal, the second is the Indian response to the proposal and the third is a Pakistani reply to the Indian response.

Naik also talked about the interest shown by Vajpayee in the time-bound frame work for a solution to the Kashmir crisis. During his meeting with Naik in April, Vajpayee is reported to have said that only eight months remained and that two months had already been 8220;wasted in procedural matters.8221;

The report also says that Naik claims that many ingredients of the Chenab solution were debated in the Neemrana Process of track 2 diplomacy.

The paper says that whether Islamabad agreed to the Naik formula or not, apart from the prime minister, two members of the kitchen cabinet and the senior officials of the foreign ministry were in the know of things.

Meanwhile, Jung newspaper reported that Naik personally explained to the Prime Minister last week his side of the story following the publication of his remarks in the press. Senior military officials also attended the meeting.

Naik was sent by Sharif to meet Vajpayee with a special message at the height of the Kargil crisis.

Naik told mediapersons last week in Karachi that had Sharif known about the Kargil exercise in time, 8220;the Kargil crisis would not have happened8221;. Naik also said that had the crisis not surfaced, an agreement on Kashmir would have taken place in October.

But more important was Naik8217;s assertion that there was no 8220;appropriate coordination8221; among the planners of the military exercises in Kargil and that is why they remained in the dark about the nature of the 8220;secret diplomacy8221; that took place.