Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and Indian diplomats have deliberated almost all issues between the two in quite detail.

Those deliberations now await implementation.

These remarks were shared by Indian politician and columnist Sudheendra Kulkarni at various sessions of the regional conference on Connectivity & Geo-Economics in South Asia, which was organised by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.

Sudheendra Kulkarni added that stability in South Asia is often a pre-requisite for its connectivity. That much is true. What cannot be denied is that a more integrated region will automatically provide grounds for achieving stability and security in the region.

“Media on both sides of the border are fueling the issues and its impacting the Pak-India relations since long. India wishes to join this mega project of China Pakistan Economic Corridor and this project will bring the two rivals closer to peace but the media should play a positive role for the restoration of peace in both countries,” he added.

Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmad, an academic of Karachi University, lamented on Thursday that the exchange of academia and researches are also an option to mitigate the issues though after building confidence we will move for other options.

Outgoing National Security Adviser (NSA) Lieutenant General (r) Nasser Khan Janjua argued that economy and security are two different sides of the same coin. One results in the other. But it is only through connectivity that economic growth can emanate and stability brought about, he argued.

As to Pakistan’s relations with India, the former NSA hinted that the bitterness of the past should be overcome. As NSA of Pakistan, he recalled, he had interacted with Indian NSA in a “very good spirit”, in which, he said, the two “did not try to win arguments against each other”.

Earlier, participants of the conference explored how to achieve connectivity in a region that is beset with old rivalries and instabilities. Some argued that the habit of thinking everything in terms of geopolitics has to change into geo-economics, should the region want to gain maximum from economic initiatives.

General (r) Nasser Janjua said Pakistan has a central role in the emerging geo-economic order, as it can help connect the countries economically. Even India cannot trade with this part of the world without Pakistan on board, he said.

The conference called for long-term interaction among South Asian countries. Another Indian scholar Shanthie D’Souza said that for connecting the region, small steps should be taken first.

One participant noted that the people’s narrative has to be different than state’s narrative; another called for promoting religious tourism and medical tourism.

Published in Daily Times, June 29^th 2018.