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ICSSR urges India, Pak to cut red tape

Tara Shankar Sahay in Agra

The Indian Council of Social Science Research on Sunday stressed the need to remove bureaucratic hurdles in India and Pakistan to promote understanding of the larger issues between the two countries for enriching bilateral relations.

Speaking during the release of the book 'How India and Pakistan Make Peace', ICSSR chief M L Sondhi pointed out that it had to overcome 'tremendous resistance' from the ministry of home affairs, the ministry of external affairs and the Union education ministry to organise the function.

He said the book is a 'critical input' of the Agra summit between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf.

Contending that the ICSSR had received full support of Prime Minister Vajpayee for its endeavour seeking better relations between the two countries, Sondhi asserted that India and Pakistan needed to overcome their respective 'bureaucratic mechanism' which had marred relations between them for the last 53 years.

"There are some obstacles but I think the worst is over," he said referring to the Agra summit.

Asserting that India and Pakistan needed to think strategically to overcome strained relations between them in the past, he said, "there is need to make rational choices."

He also referred to the fact that 'organised forces' in Kashmir were profiting by making India bleed economically.

He added that both New Delhi and Islamabad had a responsibility in ensuring that such forces be defeated in their designs.

Noted Pakistani commentator and publisher of the Dawn newspaper Hamid Haroon said that sometimes there were moments in history when even seemingly banal incidents become significant.

Referring to the respects paid by General Musharraf at Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi at Rajghat, Haroon pointed out that the 'officialdom in Islamabad' was virtually allergic to observing India's father of the nation as an apostle of peace.

Haroon pointed out that 'it is now time for reconstruction because partition has mentally truncated us'.

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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