The Hindu : End state-run hate campaigns, urge Pak. MPs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 16, 2003

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End state-run hate campaigns, urge Pak. MPs

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI MAY 15. A visiting Parliamentary delegation from Pakistan today called on both India and Pakistan to stop "all State-run hate campaigns", arguing that "much more is required" than normalising formal relations to ensure "goodwill and accommodation".

Reading out a prepared statement at a press conference this afternoon on behalf of the "goodwill mission", Ishaq Khan Khakwani, a member of the delegation, said: "Lessons have to be learnt from past failures and efforts made to build a sound edifice for a composite, meaningful and sustainable dialogue..."

The Parliamentarians, here at the invitation of the Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFD), called for "debarring" the use of force by all actors, be they State or private parties, and rejected acts of terrorism against innocent people. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), they said, should not be allowed to turn into a hostage to India-Pakistan differences. "As agreed at the 11th SAARC summit in Kathmandu, trade and economic cooperation should be allowed to take place..." Claiming that a degree of flexibility was "visible" on both sides, the Pakistani MPs quoted their Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, approvingly when he referred to the fact that the Pakistani Army was "fully on board" as far as the present initiative to restore ties with India was concerned.

Suggesting a "ceasefire" by all sides, they said that the "plan for talks" must involve the Kashmiris at "some stage" to resolve the Kashmir dispute without jeopardising the legitimate interests of India or Pakistan. "What is most important is that the rigid national consensus and officially stated positions on Kashmir should give way to openness and flexibility. And there are other issues too that should be given due importance such as nuclear stabilisation in the subcontinent." This nuclear proposal is broadly on the lines of the recent thinking of the Pakistani Government.

Calling for the "signature" of an "apparent agreement" on Siachen, the Parliamentarians suggested that the MoU on confidence-building measures agreed to in Lahore "be further improved and activated".

They suggested that people-to-people contact must be encouraged and ''journalists allowed free movement across frontiers without visas". Both the MPs and their hosts, the PIPFD, said that nobody within the BJP or the Central Government had responded to their desire to meet them. However, both in Maharashtra and West Bengal, the MPs had met with Government representatives.

Asked whether the Shimla Agreement or the Lahore process should be the basis for dialogue between the two countries, Mr. Khakwani siad that the basis should be that India and Pakistan should keep talking. Another MP, Minoo Bhandara, said that terrorists were not just the enemies of India, but Pakistan as well.

Mr. Bhandara said at a previous CII interaction that rightwing religious parties were happy that India had broken off road, rail and air links with Pakistan. These groups were pleased that India was promoting "their agenda", he stressed.

Responding to a CII suggestion to send a CEOs mission to Pakistan and organise "India-Pakistan" trade shows in Karachi and Lahore, Mr. Bhandara suggested the idea of "tourism as business".

He also pointed to the benefit India and Pakistan would derive from oil and gas pipelines coming through Central Asia. For his part, Mr. Khakwani said he would take the proposals made by the CII to the "right quarters" in Pakistan. He stressed that they had simply come on a "goodwill mission" to break the stalemate between the two countries.

Pointing out that they had been well received in India, Mr. Khakwani said the Parliamentarians would take these "vibes" back with them to Pakistan. "Let us as individuals do something for the two countries... let's keep the ball rolling."

The delegation, which returns to Pakistan on Saturday, also met the Ram Jethmalani-led Kashmir Committee in the evening.

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