ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

Sharief's offer to forget the past a positive step: Shekhar

Former prime minister Chandra Shekhar today said Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief's decision to forget the past to improve relations with India is a positive step that could also usher a new era of understanding and mutual co-operation between both countries at the threshold of a new millennium.

''Unfortunately, India and Pakistan have always perceived each other as antagonists. The need to leave the past behind and think of the future has been underscored many times. Sadly, we could not rise above our old prejudices. The initiative taken by Nawaz Sharief on the issue of Kashmir is a welcome development. For long has India reiterated that the issue was too sensitive to be resolved by any third party," he said in a statement.

Now the Pakistan prime minister has also given expression to the same view that both countries must evolve a new approach on their own instead of involving any intermediaries not just for Kashmir but for other prickly issues as well. If this problem is sorted out, for which an opening has been made, half of India's problems would be solved, Chandra Shekhar said.

He said India and Pakistan would then be able to concentrate fully on economic development.

"Mutual distrust has led both these countries to spend huge amounts on defence which has been a boon to arm suppliers in the industrialised world. This has led to a waste of national resources and filled the coffers of arms manufacturers of the affluent world. With the lifting of tensions much wasteful expenditure on defence could be diverted for the development of the people," he said.

According to him, besides saving money, it would release a great deal of manpower, the most valuable asset of the region. The military is an essential organ of the state but it cannot be expected to contribute to the economic growth of a nation in a big way, he said. It defends the nation and ensures its security. But in the process they put an unavoidable burden on the scarce resources of the poorer nations.

He said India and Pakistan could save the intellectual cost to their society if Sharif pursues his views and India reciprocates in similar tone. "As long as the conflict between India and Pakistan continues, we shall be unnecessarily be wasting our intellectual and material resources because of fears of a possible threat from each other.

"We have to work jointly towards eradication of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, misery and squalor so that we can march towards a new future of hope, joy and glory in this subcontinent. India as a major partner has to take a positive initiative to accelerate this process of reconciliation. The response of the Pakistan prime minister is a very positive one in this direction."

He recalled that hopes of better relations with Pakistan had arisen once before during Sharief's earlier stint as prime minister.

"Our discussions at a SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) summit in Male appeared to be a harbinger of a normalisation of relations," Chandra Shekhar said, adding that, sadly, not much had happened.

"But now that he has taken a new initiative, we must respond magnanimously. The gesture from Atal Bihari Vajpayee indicates that there is greater realisation on both sides that there is a need to solve our problems by mutual discussion and in a spirit of cordiality."

He hoped that this effort succeeds in bringing about lasting peace and prosperity to this region.

Tell us what you think of this report