M A I N   N E W S

Let Kashmir not mar trade ties, Sinha asks Pak
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 14
External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha today called for promoting trade and business ties between India and Pakistan, saying economic cooperation should not be held hostage to political differences.

Launching the India-Pakistan CEOs Business Forum here, Mr Sinha emphasised that political differences should not be allowed to overwhelm economic and trade relations, while noting that there were many instances where countries having political differences have managed to build strong economic ties.

Calling for an end to the practice of turning every international and multilateral forum into a battleground and to attack each other, he said the forthcoming UN General Assembly session would be a ‘test for this’.

Mr Sinha’s remarks came after Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmad Khan used the occasion to rake up the Kashmir issue.

‘‘One single issue that has influenced our relations for over half a century is the non-resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

Failure to address this most crucial issue is the main reason for the state of cooperation and relations as they exist today,’’ Mr Khan said.

He said the two countries remained bedeviled by ‘deep-rooted suspicion and distrust.’ Mr Khan, however, added that the peace initiative taken by the two Prime Ministers in April this year had generated enthusiasm at the popular level.

It was felt that finally the two countries would be able to make a new beginning in bilateral relations by addressing the ‘Kashmir issue and all other irritants,’ Mr Khan said.

Pointing out that as neighbours the two countries could not wish each other away, the External Affairs Minister said, ‘‘We need to learn to deal with each other as two mature nations and accept each other's reality.

India, he said, had no intention to be Pak-centric in its policies and hoped that Pakistan would also succeed in shedding its obsession.

The minister said while respective domestic media exulted in the coverage of such verbal duels, they lowered the standard of debate of the entire forum in which they took place and were a major source of embarrassment to all those forced to witness this unseemly spectacle.

Later, asked about the prospects of resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, the minister said that India had repeatedly made its stand clear.

New Delhi has held that Pakistan must put an end to cross-border terrorism for any meaningful dialogue.

The minister said that there had been a significant change in Indo-Pak relations since Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had extended his hand of friendship to Pakistan on April 18 and his Pakistani counterpart spoke to him on telephone 10 days later.

Mr Sinha said India’s commitment to building of a relationship of durable peace, stability and cooperation was underlined by Mr Vajpayee when he recorded at the Minar-e-Pakistan in February, 1991, that a stable, secure and prosperous Pakistan was in India’s interest.