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We should create climate of cooperation, Manmohan Singh tells Pakistan PM
Ashok Tuteja/TNS

Mohali, March 31
Emphasising the necessity of bridging the trust deficit between India and Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night unfolded some interesting aspects of his mission for permanent peace with the neighbouring country.

“We are neighbours, destiny requires that we should find cooperative solutions to all the problems that we face. When we met in Thimphu last year we both agreed that trust deficit is one area where we need to act, and act fast enough, to create a new climate in which cooperative modes of thinking will flourish and take us on the path of progress,” he said at the dinner he hosted in honour of his Pakistani counterpart Yosuf Raza Gilani at the PCA Stadium.

As per the recently released transcript, the PM said political personalities must visit each other’s countries more often. Contacts at the level of officials and civil society must also be enhanced, he emphasised as prominent guests from India and Pakistan heard his brief speech with rapt attention.

The PM, who was once again invited by Gilani to Pakistan, noted that the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have sent invitations to their Pakistani counterparts to pay a visit to India. “I dare say in moulding the future climate of opinion, Parliamentarians have a very crucial role to play. I sincerely hope that parliamentarians from India and Pakistan would set in motion a process of permanent reconciliation between our two countries so that we can realise the aspirations of our people for a life of dignity and self-respect,’’ he added.

The PM noted how the game of cricket has become a uniting factor for India and Pakistan. However, he also did not forget to mention to Gilani and others present of the need for the two countries to regularly exchange views and work out a strategy to tackle regional and global issues. “We live in the world of great uncertainty. What is happening in West Asia - nobody could imagine only a month or two ago. And all this makes it all the more necessary that India and Pakistan, placed as we are strategically in this region, should both exchange views and evolve a cooperative strategy on how to deal with the highly uncertain regional and global environment we live in today.’’