Indian Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani said here Friday that India and arch rival Pakistan should put aside their differences and focus on fighting poverty.
"When the entire world has come to realize the importance of inter-dependence between nations and synergy, why not India and Pakistan?," Advani, the cabinet number two, told a trade meeting in this southern city.
"Trade and commerce have a very important role in giving shape to the mutual relations of the two countries," he added.
India and Pakistan established a joint trade forum during a historic bus trip undertaken by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to the Pakistani city of Lahore in February 1999 aimed at easing tensions.
However, three months later India and Pakistan went to the brink of a fourth war in India's Kargil region of Kashmir, blocking efforts to widen the trade channel.
"I believe that when Prime Minister Vajpayee took his bus ride to Lahore, he had this long-range view (of developing economic cooperation)," Advani said.
He said a warming of trade relations was a distinct possibility again with Vajpayee recently inviting Pakistani ruler Pervez Musharraf for peace talks.
"The prime minister's invitation to General Musharraf is an integral part of this strategic perspective to establish durable peace for all-round development in India and in the entire South Asian region," Advani said.
"We sincerely hope that Pakistan reciprocates this perspective."
Advani said the dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir was an obstacle to peace, but hoped there would be a solution.
"You can not wish away the problems in Kashmir. There will be no quick-fix solutions. But this is the first step forward and something is going to come out of it," Advani said.
A team of top-level Indian and Pakistani businessmen met in Islamabad last month to set the ball rolling and resume their contacts after the Kargil conflict two years ago. |
