Pak, India have to return to sustained engagement

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Jun 4 (PTI) Pakistan and India have to
return to a sustained and result-oriented engagement as they
have "no option" but to peacefully resolve all outstanding
issues, including the Kashmir dispute, Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani said Friday.
Addressing the North Atlantic Council, the principal
decision-making body of NATO, in Brussels, Gilani said
Pakistan desires "good neighbourly and cooperative relations"
with India.
He said Pakistan has suggested to India that the Joint
Anti-Terrorism Mechanism be reactivated.
"Our two countries have no option but to resolve
peacefully all outstanding disputes including Kashmir, Siachen
and water," he said.
"Dialogue, I believe, offers the only way forward. We
need to get back to a serious, sustained and result-oriented
engagement," he remarked.
The two countries "must also work closely" on
eliminating terrorism and forging closer economic and trade
relations, he said.
Gilani noted that he had a "good meeting" with his
Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of a SAARC
summit in Bhutan in April and that they had "agreed to resume
our dialogue process".
However, Gilani also said that his country continues
to have concerns about "Pakistan-specific Indian military
doctrines such as the Cold Start envisaging a limited
conventional war under the nuclear over-hang" and a "huge
increase in the Indian military budget and massive weapon
acquisitions".
"These together with discriminatory policies,
especially in the nuclear and technological arena, have
accentuated the regional imbalance in South Asia," he said.
Pakistan believes that "all these and other issues
between Pakistan and India must be resolved peacefully through
dialogue", he added.
Gilani noted that Pakistan-India relations have a
"significant bearing" on South Asian security and said:
"Unfortunately, long-outstanding disputes such as Jammu and
Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek continue to fester and require
a just and peaceful resolution."
He also pointed out that the region is "water
stressed" and that water issues "have started to impact on
Pakistan's agriculture and the well being of our people" as
the country is a lower riparian state.
Such issues of peace, security and strategic stability
need to be addressed in a "forthright manner", he said. (MORE)
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