When Dilip Kumar called Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to stop Kargil war

New Delhi, Oct 8: In what could come as a surprise to the people of ‘friendly’ nations — India and Pakistan, thespian Dilip Kumar had urged the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif to put an end to Kargil War in 1999. Dilip Kumar, a recipient of Pakistan’s highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, is also a favourite actor of Nawaz Sharif and the appeal came when the Pakistan leader was visiting India for a dialogue. The anecdote was revealed by the former Pakistan Finance Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri ahead of the release of his book — ‘Neither a hawk nor a dove’ — in New Delhi and was quoted by the Pakistani newspaper The Dawn. The incident took place in 1999, when Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were in between a conversation and suddenly, a call from Dilip Kumar came as a surprise. “Kasuri quoted an aide of Sharif as confiding in him that in the middle of a conversation in July 1999 between the Pakistan prime minister and India’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the latter handed the phone to Dilip Kumar who was listening in,” reported Pakistani daily The Dawn.