ISLAMABAD, May 15: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Sunday highlighted the importance of South Asia’s human capital and urged leaders to cash in on it and build a viable architecture for peace, security and cooperation in the region for ensuring progress and prosperity of the people.
He was addressing the delegates of South Asian Parliaments Conference at a dinner hosted by him at the PM House. The prime minister said there was a need for substantive dialogue for peaceful settlement of all disputes in the region and mechanisms to address issues on bilateral and multilateral bases with respect to sovereign equality of all states.
Saarc, home to one-fifth of world population, can make rapid progress by applying strategic restraint and avoiding an arms race in the region, he said. Mr Aziz said there should be cooperation in South Asia as a whole and with other sub-regions of Asia for the progress and prosperity of the region.
He said that instead of focusing energies and resources on overcoming the challenges being faced by South Asia, “we have in the past remained mired in the elusive search for security or even in the delusion of domination”. Historic disputes and tensions have dissipated the creative forces and growing military expenditures have drained the valuable resources, he said.
The prime minister said the people living in South Asia “have tremendous potential” and they only needed opportunities and the “necessary conducive environment” to flourish. He added: “We need to take a holistic approach that encompasses the entire spectrum of inter-state relations in South Asia.”
He said Pakistan strongly believed that the creation of a climate of peace and stability, resolution of differences and disputes and simultaneous building of economic synergies could transform the lives of the people. He said Pakistan was fully committed to the laudable goal of promoting peace and prosperity in South Asia.
Mr Aziz said ever since Pakistan and India began the composite dialogue process fifteen months ago, Pakistan had demonstrated courage and flexibility for the sake of lasting peace. He said: “We have entered the dialogue process with firm commitment that it would result in a just and durable solution to all issues with India, particularly the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.”
The prime minister said Pakistan remained committed to the dialogue process and believed that it was irreversible. He said some progress had been achieved in the form of CBMs and people-to-people contacts, but both the countries “have reached a juncture” where they must move beyond dispute management to dispute resolution.
Appreciating the role of South Asia Free Media Association (Safma) for organizing the moot, he said people-to-people contacts should be promoted to enhance bilateral relations.
He said it was indeed the role of a free and responsible media, as a part of civil society, to help promote peace, cooperation and understanding between peoples, especially among neighbouring countries.
He said South Asia was rich in human and natural resources and through mutual cooperation it could become one of the major centres of economic powers in the world.
He said South Asians are resilient and enterprising, intelligent and industrious and they have made their mark in every field - from aerospace to the arts; and in every country - from the United Arab Emirates to the United States. The premier said Pakistan believed in the need for adopting a realistic and practical approach towards regional integration and appreciated the role of Safma and other organizations in this regard.
He said the Saarc summits and other meetings should be held on schedule and with full participation of members to ensure more interaction in the region. He said Pakistan could become the channel for multiple corridors for cooperation between South Asia and Central and West Asia, especially in the field of energy, trade, transport and tourism sectors.
He said parliamentarians, as representatives of people, “cannot and must not avoid the responsibility” of demonstrating the necessary political will to eliminate the root causes of the differences in the region to ensure a better, more prosperous and more secure future for the people.
Safma’s secretary-general Imtiaz Alam also spoke. In an interview with CNBC, Mr Aziz described the energy corridor offered by Pakistan to India to import energy from the Middle East and Central Asia through its territory as the “peace pipeline.”
“We believe that this project will provide the linkages and interdependencies which will be better for relationships between the two countries,” he said. He said Pakistan was looking at several options, like pipeline from Turkmenistan, Iran and Qatar to Pakistan and onto India.
“We are going to go ahead anyway. But if India and Pakistan do this together, it will build more confidence, provide energy needs and create atmosphere where interdependencies will help the overall diplomatic climate,” he added.
“Both countries have immense human talent and it needs to be leveraged to produce a better standard of living, high economic growth.”
Replying to a question, Mr Aziz categorically said “Pakistan never had a terror infrastructure. He said Pakistan abhors terrorism in any form.
He stressed that the fundamentals in Kashmir “have to be addressed”.
“Why are people behaving the way they are? Nobody wants to stand in front of a soldier and get killed. There must be reasons and we have to identify the root causes.
“I am optimistic that as the dialogue starts we will come up with credible road maps to settle this issue that will give confidence to the people in Kashmir.”
The prime minister expressed the confidence that the “future looks better and brighter”. —APP
