Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on a bus in 1999

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the former prime minister who died on August 16 in New Delhi, will be remembered for several things from his politics and statesmanship to his love for food and mastery of poetry.

In Pakistan, it seems, Vajpayee will be remembered for a "Nixonian" diplomatic gamble in 1999 when he undertook a historic bus trip to Pakistan's Lahore.

The thaw in the relations between the subcontinental rivals was short lived; less than three months after Vajpayee went to Lahore, then Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif's army chief Pervez Musharraf plotted the Kargil misadventure that saw India and Pakistan go to full-scale war.

But that didn't stop Twitter users in Pakistan from remembering Vajpayee's efforts to improve India-Pakistan ties. "It was during [Atal Bihari Vajpayee's] government that Pakistan and India last came close to actual peace," Gibran Ashraf, a journalist with The Express Tribute, aptly noted.

Another journalist, Omar Quraishi, said that Atal Bihari Vajpayee had become the top trend on Pakistani Twitter soon after the news of the former Indian PM spread. "Despite being from the BJP, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was quite a liked figure in Pakistan -- not least because he himself came to Lahore on the Dosti Bus," Quraishi said.

The Lahore bus visit was a common theme in several reactions that came from Twitter users in Pakistan. The Lahore bus trip was "an opportunity of peace that was missed... Vajpayee ji took a daring step at the cost of political fortune," one user said.

Another compared it to Richard Nixon's historic visit to China as US president, calling Vajpayee Lahore visit the Indian "subcontinent's 'Only Nixon could go to China' moment".

A journalist with the BBC said that Vajpayee will be remembered for "determination to pursue a peace process with neighbouring Pakistan" while another scribe called him "one of the most towering PMs."

Vajpayee wanted India and Pakistan "to move beyond the bloodied history, and be friends," prominent columnist Mehr Tarar said.

Reactions also poured in from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which is set to form government in Pakistani, whose spokesperson called Vajpayee a "legend". Pakistani PM-designate Imran Khan too reacted, saying "[Vajpayee's] attempts for the betterment of India-Pak relationship will always be remembered."

One of the most fitting tributes for Vajpayee came from the Pakistani foreign office spokesperson who underlined the dominant theme of the Lahore's bus visit and paid a nod to the poet-prime minister.

"Jang na hone denge; Bharat Pakistan padosi, saath-saath rehna hai; Pyar karein ya 'war' karein, donon ko hi sehna hai; Jo hum par guzari, bachchon par na hone denge; Jang na hone denge (I won't allow war... India and Pakistan are neighbours, have to stay together... whether we love or fight, both of us have to bear the consequenes... what we have been through, our future generations shouldn't go through... I won't allow another war)," Dr Mohammad Faisal said, tweeting a couplet recited by Vajpayee on his Lahore visit.