SWABI, Feb 18: The hostility between India and Pakistan has scuttled an economic development opportunity, while the ongoing composite dialogue between the two countries will herald an era of prosperity.

This was stated by Indian students while talking to Dawn at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology here on Saturday. As many as 10 students from India are participating in the three-day International Parliamentary Debates 2006, Feb 18-20, organised by the institute’s literacy and debating society.

They stressed a dire need of good working interaction between the leadership of two nuclear neighbours. Rohan Trivedi, Ashish Nagar, Anirmudh Jain and Arnav Sinha belong to the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Rudroneel Ghosh, Rahul Satyan and Abish George Mathew are from Ram Lal Anand College, Delhi, while Sanjay Joshi, Bharat B R and Samarth Masson belong to M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore.

They called for step-by-step approach and urged that the leadership of the two countries to use diplomatic channels for the resolution of all the outstanding issues, including that of Kashmir.

They said the Sino-Indian border dispute did not scuttle the interaction between the two countries in various fields and the same formula should also be upheld by India and Pakistan.