KL Desk

Srinagar

Former Prime Minister of India, Inder Kumar Gujral died in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi on Friday. He was 92.
“Gujral passed away at 3.31 pm at Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon,” Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde announced in the Lok Sabha.

Mr Gujral was admitted to hospital on November 19 with a lung infection.

Mr Gujral who was prime minister for year between 1996 and 1997, was best known for his Gujral Doctrine, which proposed closer ties with India and her neighbour. He also opened dialogue with Pakistan.

Mr Gujral was also foreign minister twice. He served as Minister of External Affairs in Prime Minister V. P. Singh’s cabinet.

In 1989, Singh sent him to Srinagar to seal the deal with the kidnappers in the case of the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed.

The largest issue he had to deal with in this cabinet role was Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent events that led to the first Gulf War of January 1991. As India’s representative, he personally met with Saddam Hussein. His hug with Hussein during the meeting remains a matter of controversy.

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