KARACHI, Sept 13: The governor of State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Ishrat Hussain, has expressed hope that publication of South Asian Journal will disseminate new ideas on the issues that confront the South Asian countries and bring people of the region closer.

He was speaking at the formal launching ceremony of South Asian Journal, a publication of South Asia Free Media Association, where senior journalists emphasized on the need of free flow of information among the South Asian countries.

Endorsing the views expressed by the journalists, Ishrat Hussain said that in his recent visit to India he found even senior Indian journalists unaware of the economic achievements of Pakistan in the last five years.

Dr Ishrat expressed hope that the journal would accommodate ideas and opinions of all shades and offer a balanced presentation. He said that the South Asian countries, by and large, had a common heritage and a common history but remain ignorant of the changes taking place in their respective countries.

The association's secretary general, Imtiaz Alam, informed the audience that the Indian government had recently decided in principle to offer multiple visa facilities to Pakistani journalists.

He said that the South Asia Free Media Association is an organization of media practitioners of all the South Asian countries and it had engaged in dialogue with the parliamentarians and people from all walks of life to create a better awareness of the issues.

M.B. Naqvi, a senior journalist, pointed out that three wars between Pakistan and India failed to deliver anything to both nations and the time had come to give peace a chance in the region.

Ghazi Salahuddin, a noted columnist, gave an overview of the South Asian Journal and pointed out that unending acrimony between India and Pakistan had made South Asia the biggest poverty pocket on the globe.

Amer Ahmad, editor of monthly Herald, suggested the association to publish South Asian Journal in national languages of the countries so that its message could reach to maximum number of people.

Imtiaz Alam announced that the journal would be published from the next year in Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Sinhalese and other national languages. Journalists, businessmen, stock brokers, bankers and students of journalism attended the launching ceremony of the South Asian Journal.