New Delhi, July 29 - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday paid fulsome tribute to his predecessor Atal Bihari's Vajpayee's vision, saying 'he took a decision of political courage to visit Lahore in 1999'.

In the course of his reply in the Lok Sabha to the debate on India-Pakistan ties, Manmohan singh invoked Vajpayee's name to make the point that it required statesmanship to make bold decisions that often changed the course of history.

Tracing the course of chequered India-Pakistan ties in the last decade, Manmohan Singh said that despite the 1999 Kargil war and the attack on the Indian parliament in 2001, Vajpayee remained committed to improved bilateral relations.

'To his great credit, Vajpayee was not deterred, as a statesman should not be.