June 24, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 23,1424

KARACHI, June 23: Head of the 14-member Legislators Peace Mission from India, Kuldip Nayar has urged the Indian government to provide concession in duty to the Pakistani businessmen so that they could freely and easily send their products to the Indian markets.

“It is time that Indian markets should be opened to Pakistani products,” he said in a meeting with members of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) at the Federation House on Monday.

“I have already sent this proposal to the (Indian) government and today I again support this proposal that India should offer concession to Pakistan,” he added.

“What you manufacture here, you (industrialists) should send to India no matter how much Indians suffer losses in taxes and duties,” Kuldip, also a leading columnist, said adding “free movement of goods between the two countries will further cement our economic ties.”

He suggested that a list of at least 1,000 new items be prepared immediately which could be added in the already approved list of tradable items between the two neighbouring countries.

“It is time to enter into joint ventures in various sectors and conduct market surveys to ascertain that which item enjoys tremendous market potentials in both the countries,” he said.

He was of the view that industrialists of both the countries should not need any visas for visiting each others’ countries. If there was any problems in granting visas to all industrialists, at least recognised industrialists should be provided visas on priority basis like parliamentarians.

He said that India enjoys upper hand in technology specially in the engineering sector and it could easily share its expertise with Pakistan.

He said India has already granted the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan but Pakistan had yet to reciprocate. “I think there is no harm in granting MFN status to India as after all Pakistan will have to offer the status when trade will open in 2005,” he added.

At a time when every country has to open its markets for its neighbours in 2005, there should be an economic unit between the neighbouring countries like Afghanistan, Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to foster trade ties and open new business avenues to boost economic relations, he suggested.

He said both political and economic situation had not changed for the better after the partition despite a lot of potential. All economic and political agreements signed between the two countries could not be materialized and remained on the paper.

The visit of the parliamentarians of both the countries has provided renewed vigour and hope to the governments and business community of both the countries. “Lets start political and economic efforts with a new constructive and positive approach and open a new chapter as nobody knows whether we get a chance to revive activities in future or not,” he said.

“There is no need for a tit for tat. Lets decide today that war is not the solution to all problems. It is time that we try to restore the confidence of each others,” he said while recalling that India had made mistakes but it does not mean that “we should let our new generations to suffer of our past mistakes,” he added.

He urged the business community and parliamentarians of both the countries to come forward and persuade their governments to start a new chapter of enhancing both bilateral and political relations with a renewed vigour.

He said India has no hesitation in overflying over Pakistan’s territory. However, he added, that some industrialists in Pakistan had raised objections on overflying at India’s territory and till now Pakistan had not responded positively in this area. He added that Pakistan should start operate its flight over India.

He was of the view that plying of one or two buses daily on India-Pakistan bus service from Lahore, which is scheduled to be resumed from July 1, is not enough.

The popular bi-weekly Delhi-Lahore bus service, started in 1999, was stopped soon after a militant attack on India’s parliament in December 2001.

He said the Kashmir dispute between the two countries should be resolved through dialogue.

Former President FPCCI, Tariq Saeed asked Kuldip Nayar as to why India has blocked Pakistan’s entry in ASEAN and other economic forums. He also called upon both the countries to reduce their defence budget and find out new joint business opportunities in order to alleviate poverty.

“There is also a need to resolve all the pending and burning issues including the Kashmir,” he added. President FPCCI, Riaz Tata said Pakistan and India could jointly prosper in every fields of trade if both the countries specially focus in enhancing economic ties.