KARACHI, June 5: President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mr L.K. Advani, has said that peace should not be held hostage to the resolution of any of the disputes between India and Pakistan and there should be no going back on the realization that dialogue was the only way to resolve every single dispute, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Advani made these observations while speaking at a reception hosted by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and in a lecture at the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Economic Affairs and Law on Sunday. He emphasized that peace could not be achieved through recourse to non-peaceful means.

MQM’s deputy convenor Dr Farooq Sattar welcomed the Indian leader on behalf of the party’s founder Altaf Hussain and the coordination committee. He said that Pakistan-India relations were deep rooted and the people of the two countries were eager to overcome all obstacles for enduring peace and mutually beneficial relations between the two countries.

Chief Minister Sindh Dr Arbab Rahim also attended the reception.

Mr Advani stressed the need for moving the dialogue process forward on all issues and also urged that Pakistan and India should benefit from legal bilateral trade and technology and regretted restrictive flow of information.

He said that in an era of globalization trade and business were not only about money and profit, they also created a stronger stake in peaceful, stable and cooperative relations between two countries.

He also referred to Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s August 11, 1947, speech and said there was no place for bigotry, hatred, intolerance and discrimination in the name of religion. He pointed out that there was no place, much less state protection, for religious extremism and terrorism.

He believed that this was the ideal India, Pakistan and Bangladesh should follow.