KARACHI, Feb 3: The visiting opposition leader in Indian Rajya Sabha, Jaswant Singh, said here on Friday that an economically strong Pakistan, with political stability, would be “good for close relations in future between the two countries.

“For durable ties between India and Pakistan in future, we have to be careful and patient. Once a step has been taken, there should be no retreat.

“The dynamics of India-Pakistan relations are currently being driven by people of both the countries,” he said while speaking at a luncheon hosted for him in Karachi by Iqbal Haider, former Federal Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister.

It was attended by President Alliance for Restoration of Democracy Makhdoom Amin Fahim, leader of opposition in Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuhro, PPP MNAs Nawab Yusuf Talpur and Sherry Rahman, Chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board Shaharyar M Khan, former Speaker Illahi Bux Soomro, veteran politician Sardar Sher Baz Mazari, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Shiv Shankar Menon, former adviser to Prime Minister V A Jaffery, and ex-Defence Secretary Salim Abbas Jilani.

Jaswant Singh, who is also top leader of main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, felt that India and Pakistan should stop living in shadows of the past. The world was moving ahead very fast. “The overhang of the past must not stop us to move forward.”

He also spoke of Iran’s nuclear issue and said if anything happens in that country, it would affect South Asian region.

According to him, the New World Order was aimed at ensuring security of one country. He contended that Nuclear Proliferation Treaty was “imperfect. The entire nuclear proliferation is putting barrier on testing by Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).”

He welcomed the re-opening of rail service between Pakistan’s Sindh-Province border town of Khokarapar and Indian Rajasthan’s border town of Munabao from Feb 18.

The BJP leader described border between Sindh, Rajasthan and Gujarat provinces as the largest and peaceful border between the two countries.

Jaswant Singh was critical of the presence of Nato troops in Afghanistan and said it was “very surprising” that the Afghan President Hamid Karzai should have American security guards provided by Washington.

Earlier, Iqbal Haider in his remarks said Pakistan and India should work for building close relations by fully respecting their sovereignty, through opening up their borders, media and give facility to their citizens to get visa on arrival in each other’s country.

He felt if Pakistan and India adopt a joint strategy of demilitarization, it would be beneficial both at the regional and global level.

working on A book: India’s former foreign minister and now leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh is working on a book on this region as the ‘tri-junction’ of three collapsed empires.

He said these were the Ottoman empire, the British empire and the Soviet empire. The collapse of each had left its imprint on the region.

Mr Jaswant Singh made these remarks at a lunch hosted in his honour by HRCP secretary-general Iqbal Haider on Friday.—PPI