LAHORE, March 10: India and Pakistan should revive the suspended peace process and initiate a dialogue on the basis of the Lahore Declaration “before the international community decides to disarm the two (nuclear) South Asian nations” after settling the Iraq crisis.

The warning was sounded by a former Indian Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral L. Ramdas, while speaking to Dawn here on Monday.

“Let’s behave as good neighbours and begin talking to each other. The existing international situation has provided us with an opportunity to sit back and reflect on our tense relations because once the international community has settled the Iraq crisis, it would turn its attention to India and Pakistan because they’ve also got weapons of mass destruction.”

Admiral Ramdas, who is actively involved in what is known as unofficial Track-II diplomacy between Pakistan and India since 1996, insisted that the Lahore Declaration was the most comprehensive document available to the two neighbours to revive the suspended peace process.

“The document covers all mutual concerns and disputes, including Jammu and Kashmir, and provides a practical course to move forward. We must give a serious consideration to this document because it also reflects the extremely mature way the two nations had exhibited after their nuclear tests.”

The Lahore Declaration was signed by Pakistan and India on Feb 10, 1999, during a visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpai, on the inaugural run of the bus service between the two countries. The document says that an environment of peace and security is in the supreme national interest of both the sides and that resolution of all outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, is essential for this purpose. It also calls for avoiding a military conflict between India and Pakistan due to nuclear dimension of the security environment of the two countries and intensifying efforts to resolve all issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir problem. It further commits the two nations to the objective of universal nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.

“It is the most clear document on all issues and is a perfect piece of wisdom and vision shown by India and Pakistan. You (Pakistan) repeatedly say that India does not want to sit across the table. Look, here is the document, signed by both the countries, available to build the talks on. We should try and revive it. India will be forced to respond positively if Pakistan offers to resume peace talks on the basis of this document because neither side has so far abrogated it. Both the nations are technically bound by it,” Admiral Ramdas said.

He said he was stressing the need for using the Lahore Declaration as the basis of future dialogue because it would allow the two major South Asia nations save time needed to once again cover the ground already covered in this document. “The problems between the two countries remain the same, unchanged. So why start the process all over again? Why not begin from the point where we left it? This is the best thing we can think of at this stage. It is a wonderful template available to us.”

The former Indian naval chief said he was lobbying for the establishment of SAMIA (South Asia Monitoring and Implementing Agency) comprising other regional countries to oversee effective implementation of the document.

He believed that the things might have moved forward after the Lahore Declaration but for the Kargil crisis that scuttled the peace process between India and Pakistan months after the Indian prime minister’s visit to Pakistan. “The process was later stalled by the 9/11 events only months that happened after the Agra summit.”

A frequent visitor to Pakistan and a veteran of 1965 and 1971 wars, Admiral Ramdas is in the city to take part in a two-day workshop organized by PUGWASH — an NGO that was awarded Nobel prize for peace in 1995 for its work for nuclear and general disarmament around the world — on the nuclear and peace issues relating to India and Pakistan.

The workshop is expected to hold a debate on the conventional conflict and a possible nuclear escalation between Pakistan and India as well as their nuclear doctrines. The nuclear control issues for them will also come under discussion.

Besides, the moot is going to debate the effects of a possible nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan and also to recommend ways and means for the resumption of peace dialogue between them.

Mr Ramdas is the only Indian attending the workshop, though he believes that 10-12 Indians must have been invited to participate in the moot. “Others, I guess, couldn’t come due to their other engagements and have regretted their inability to attend the workshop,” he said and added “he did not face any problem in obtaining visa for Pakistan.”

He advised Pakistan to “avoid harping on the Kashmir issue endlessly because it is impeding the way of peace in the region. Don’t let it be the only thing Pakistan should be worried about. Let’s have peace first and build mutual confidence because it is the only way to find a solution to the problems, including the Kashmir issue, between the two nations. Let’s convert the Line of Control (LoC) into a Line of Peace.” He also urged Islamabad to stop saying that it would continue to provide diplomatic, moral and political support to those who cross the LoC into Held Kashmir. This policy should be reversed. “Once Pakistan declares that it won’t allow crossing of the LoC (into Indian part of Kashmir) by anyone and extends an offer for dialogue, no Indian government would be able to refuse to sit across the table with it for settling the issues.”

He did not agree with Pakistan’s claim that it was extending moral, political and diplomatic support only to the indigenous freedom movement going on in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.

On a question regarding the effectiveness of the so-called Track-II diplomacy, the admiral said everyone wanted instant peace. “We must not forget that it cannot be achieved overnight. It requires a great deal of hardwork. It takes a long time to build mutual confidence.”

He said there was nothing “official” about the people-to-people diplomacy undertaken by peace activists from the two sides of the divide. “We are building bridges and trust between the two nations and remove doubts to facilitate and create an environment for dialogue.” He admitted that such efforts had suffered a setback due to the suspension of travel relations between India and Pakistan for well over a year and added that they were actively working for the restoration of travel communication.