NEW DELHI, March 5: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday expressed the hope that Pakistan’s new leadership would work with him in putting the past behind for enduring peace and collective prosperity of the two countries.

Dr Singh told parliament he saw a “ray of hope” from the new leaders of Pakistan’s main political parties, who in their first pronouncements after the elections, had spoken of their keen interest in developing close relations with India to bring about durable peace.

There is a consensus in both countries for having “close and cooperative relations” and a “framework for enduring peace”, Dr Singh said. “The newly-elected leaders in Pakistan can quickly move forward with us on this. We would welcome this and meet them half way.”

Replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to President in both Houses of Parliament, Dr Singh said: “India wants to live in peace with Pakistan. The destinies of our two nations are interlinked.”

Of his vision for the future with Pakistan, the prime minister said: “We need to put the past behind us. We need to think about our collective destiny, our collective security, our collective prosperity.”

Dr Singh lavished praise on former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for his role in mending ties with Islamabad. Even as he slammed Mr Vajpayee’s NDA government for economic policies, Dr Singh had words of praise for his “courageous” steps to foster peace with Pakistan.

“The most courageous steps to build peace were taken by prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Atal Behari Vajpayee,” Dr Singh said in both houses of parliament.

Dr Singh said his UPA government has continued the process with President Pervez Musharraf. He noted that the dialogue process was started by assassinated former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Rajiv Gandhi.

He described his predecessor as “Bhishma Pitamah of Indian politics”, reference to a respected senior character from the epic Mahabharat, who had won the affection of his opponents. Dr Singh appealed to Mr Vajpayee to rise above “narrow” party politics and support the Indo-US nuclear deal.

“Bhishma Pitamah of Indian politics Atal Behari Vajpayee should listen to his conscience and let national interest prevail upon narrow politics,” Dr Singh said in the Rajya Sabha seeking support of his predecessor on the nuclear deal. He assured parliament the government would not compromise on national security in inking the nuclear deal with the United States.