19 February 2004	Thursday	27 Zilhaj 1424

LAHORE, Feb 18: Former Indian cricket team captain Bishan Singh Bedi has stressed the need to promote person-to-person dialogue instead of depending on politicians and superpowers to develop peace in India and Pakistan.

Speaking at a get-together organized by the Focus Pakistan Forum here on Wednesday, he claimed individually every Indian and Pakistani wanted to open up and meet.

He also said that there should be no visa restriction for people to move between the two countries. He said people of both the countries must live in harmony and this could be ensured by not inflicting personal opinion on the masses. Saying that religion was a personal affair of everybody, Mr Bedi claimed that he himself had declined to become a fundamentalist.

He emphasized that people should develop virtues like commitment on principles, integrity and conviction. Answering a question, Mr Bedi said the forthcoming matches between Pakistan and India would help end the hostile environment and develop peace in both the countries. He said the cricket teams' visits should be organized frequently.

"Love and hate relationship during the game will continue as is the matter between any two countries playing cricket," he said. But, he observed, despite the fact that Pakistan and India secured all IT, computer, scientific and nuclear technology, other countries still acted with more maturity.

He said he could now well realize the destruction would have caused during the partition of India and Pakistan. He also criticized the 9/11 incident and Iraq war, saying all this destruction was done by human beings.

Later, appreciating the efforts of the Focus Pakistan, he said its vision should be enhanced and called as Focus India-Pakistan. Focus Pakistan patron-in-chief Dr Awais Farooqui also spoke on the occasion.