NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told an international audience on Friday that peace with Pakistan was a key condition for the progress of South Asia.

Mr Vajpayee etched out his vision of a peaceful South Asia where one day he saw a unified currency presiding over a powerful economic system driven by the region’s sovereign states.

“If this seems unrealistic and utopian, perhaps we are being unnecessarily cynical,” Mr Vajpayee said. “Let us remember that the world did not anticipate the sudden end to the Cold War or the collapse of the Berlin Wall. No one thought Apartheid South Africa could be transformed bloodlessly into Mandela’s Rainbow Country.”

Apparently hinting at what he foresaw in developing peaceful ties with Pakistan, the premier said: “Few political analysts had foreseen that the hostile suspicion between Russia and China could be converted in such a short time into a strategic partnership.”

Mr Vajpayee was speaking at a conference on the “peace dividend in South Asia”. Prominent among the Pakistan delegates attending the moot was former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

He said: “What really attracted me (to the conference) was the powerful imagery of the peace dividend as the engine of progress in our region.

“At the same time, I must confess to some sadness that — over half a century after all the countries of our region attained independence — this truth still needs to be emphasized.

“The peace dividend for South Asia is the creation of new hope and opportunity for its billion and a half people. We need no stronger justification for peace than this simple statement. The investment inputs required to reap this dividend are pragmatic policies, rational economics and popular participation.”

Mr Vajpayee said there could be no argument about South Asia’s inherent advantages, common interests and complementary strengths, which presented a tremendous opportunity for our region to realize its full potential.

He observed that in the post-Cold War world of globalization, countries around the world were increasingly focusing on regional economics.

“Political disputes have been resolved diplomatically or quietly deferred for tackling at a more opportune time. Conflict has given way to cooperation; dialogue moderates differences. There is a clear recognition that hostility only stunts economies, inhibits trade and retards progress,” he said.

He stressed that South Asia must discard the myth that because of the asymmetries in their economies the smaller countries would not benefit from closer economic integration within the region.

Energy was one area that promised mutually enriching partnerships, he said.

Significantly, hours after Mr Vajpayee’s speech, Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha was on his way to Tehran, where he was expected to discuss among other issues the gas pipeline project via Pakistan.

Mr Vajpayee said Bangladesh had similarly promising reserves of natural gas. “They need to sell these energy sources. India is the only viable buyer and its energy demands are expanding exponentially. There is obvious scope for win-win arrangements.

“With our extended neighbourhood of Iran and Afghanistan, our land mass also links the new energy sources of Central Asia with the warm water ports of the Indian Ocean in the South. It does not require much imagination to envisage how close regional cooperation can cash in on the strategic importance of our location.”

The prime minister pointed to the outpouring of popular sentiment after the recent peace initiatives with Pakistan.

“The increased travel between India and Pakistan of parliamentarians, businessmen, artistes and sportsmen show the intense desire for amity and goodwill. We have to respond to this desire by seeking every possible way to banish hostility and promote peace.

“If we in South Asia look back objectively at the experiences of our freedom struggles and of our nation-building, the one stark lesson that stands out is the imperative of forging a unity based on our commonalities.

“Whenever we have dissipated our energies in internal squabbling, external forces have come in to sort out our differences and stayed on to exploit our resources. We should never create the possibility of reliving these historical experiences in new forms and on different fronts,” he emphasized.