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Jaipal Reddy proposes visa-free travel for journalists, newspaper proprietors

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting S. Jaipal Reddy on Friday proposed visa-free travel within South Asian countries for journalists and newspaper proprietors as they were ambassadors of peace, amity and goodwill.

Describing journalists as unacknowledged diplomats of the modern era, he said they could mould public opinion without being fettered by vote bank considerations like the politicians were.

Mr. Jaipal Reddy was inaugurating the sixth conference of the South Asian Editors Forum (SAEF) on the theme of `how the language media can promote the message of peace and justice in South Asia.'

Perceptible change

He said there was a perceptible change in the attitude of people in South Asia in favour of peace and justice. In this yearning for peace, politicians were lagging behind journalists, who, in turn, were not keeping pace with the people's wishes. South Asia, was most backward in terms of internal cooperation though it was the poorest after the Sub-Sahara region. "This is a shame", he said.

Stating that it was time for idealism to triumph over diplomacy, he felt that prosperity in South Asia could became a reality provided countries in the region got their priorities right. "We have nothing to lose except our poverty. [The dispute over] Kashmir can be resolved when the mutual cooperation agenda becomes so large that the Kashmir problem starts looking small." Mr. Jaipal Reddy said that in spite of conflict for 500 years and the death of 50 million people during World War II, European nations had come together to form a strong union with a common currency. " We too need to put behind history," he said.

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