Asif Ali Zardari has calls for rediscovering Pakistan India relations
Local Monday, June 30th, 2008PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has called for viable peace in Kashmir saying that Pak-India relations can, and should be, creatively rediscovered. He made the call in his vision statement at an international conference on ‘India and Pakistan – designing a new future’ held in London.
According to PTV, he welcomed the India-Pakistan dialogue that started a few years ago to discuss open borders, trade and travel, and said a consensus is developing on issues of peace and security in the region. Outlining the PPP vision of peace in the region, Zardari said it is critical to the well-being of over one billion people.
The PPP co-chairman said on Kashmir issue: “We must make a viable peace that must not take further lives, pending a final settlement of the dispute in which we support an autonomous Kashmir running much of its own affairs.”
He said both India and Pakistan should join hands to fight the real issues like hunger and disease, discrimination and bigotry against minorities confronting our masses.
Zardari welcomed the Pak-India decision to work together on anti-terrorism efforts and to share information in this regard. He said the challenge is to deal with militants and extremists so that they cannot hold the foreign policies of two independent nations hostage to their acts of terrorism.
This is all the more necessary because political instability of Afghanistan hampers trade with central Asia. Therefore, controlling terrorism in the tribal areas of Pakistan is a priority for Pakistan. The PPP co-chairman advocated for Pak-India co-operation in trade, media exchange, transportation links, energy, education, agriculture and other fields. He said the PPP government has also agreed to build pipelines for oil and gas to be pumped across Pakistan to India and such plans will be given top priority by the government.
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on Jun 30 2008. Filed under