New Delhi: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on October 18 said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was forced to tell a "big lie" about mafia don Dawood Ibrahim at their meeting during the Agra summit.

"I thought he (Musharraf) was like an armyman and politics might not be in his heart. I felt he would be interested in developing friendly relations with India like we want," Advani said addressing a function.

Recalling his meeting with Musharraf, Advani said he told the Pakistani leader that with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee being in power, there was a possibility of ending the acrimony between the two countries.

"I asked him to make up his mind," Advani said.

"I brought the reference of Turkey where I had just then visited and signed an extradition treaty," he said, adding Musharraf was told that India needed the treaty with Pakistan more than Turkey. "Extradition treaty between India and Pakistan will have good results," he said.

"He did not realise where I was taking him and said 'why not, why not'," Advani said, adding that he then sought handing over of 1993 Mumbai bomb blast prime accused Dawood Ibrahim.

Musharraf said, "It was not a big thing, but I told him that he did not realise how common people in India would react if Dawood was handed over."

"Then he said Dawood was not in Pakistan," Advani recalled.

"A top Pakistani official who was present at the meeting then told me that I forced him to speak a big lie in front of all the officials," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

PTI