Stability will help, Goh tells Musharraf

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, MARCH 29. The Singapore Prime Minister, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, today called for a ``vision of peace and security'' while suggesting to the visiting Pakistani Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf, that his efforts at restoring investor confidence in Islamabad would also hinge on a ``stable'' situation there.

This aspect of their talks in a bilateral session here was amplified in the speeches that they delivered at a luncheon meeting later during Gen. Musharraf's ``working visit''. The Pakistani military ruler, who arrived here this morning from Kuala Lumpur, will leave for Jakarta tomorrow.

Expressing a ``wish for peace and stability'' in South Asia as a whole, Mr. Goh said it was Singapore's ``hope'' that ``Pakistan and India will resume their dialogue to continue the progress which the Lahore Declaration in February 1999 signified.'' Taking cognisance of ``the magnitude of the

task'' as also ``the long road and the difficulties ahead, Mr. Goh said, in a toast to the visiting leader, that South Asia must possess ``the vision and courage to look ahead and not allow differences, however basic, to bog down the region.''

In response, Gen. Musharraf said, ``if the people of Kashmir are allowed to decide their own destiny, our (South Asian) region can be the success story of the new millennium.''

The Chief Executive shifted the nuance in this respect from the ``right to self-determination'' (a phrase originally considered) to a question of Kashmiris being allowed to ``decide their own destiny''. Gen. Musharraf is said to have informed Mr. Goh of Islamabad's readiness to engage India in talks in the context of a recognition that peace and stability were a pre-requisite for Pakistan's economic health.

However, the two leaders did not appear to have dwelt on the significance of the recent visit to South Asia by the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, in the talks. Nor did Gen. Musharraf seek Singapore's good offices for a resumption of the talks with India.

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Section  : International
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