KARACHI, Dec 7: Indian High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Menon on Tuesday said that unresolved issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, between India and Pakistan were being discussed bilaterally at the moment.
Stressing advancement on all fronts in this regard, he said progress should not be made hostage to the resolution of just one issue.
Mr Menon was responding to a question at a seminar on Achievements, Failures and Future Prospects of SAARC organized by Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Economic Affairs and Law. The seminar was also attended by representatives of Sri Lanka and Nepal.
He said that New Delhi had never linked progress of the seven-nation Saarc to the resolving the problems relating to disputes among its member states. "I have heard the argument that India-Pakistan relations have somehow held Saarc hostage.
I fail to see why this should be so unless a member state chooses to make it so, and uses principle of decisions by unanimity to get its way. "India certainly does not make progress of Saarc conditional on the levels of our bilateral relationships.
"The other myth is that political differences between member states affect Saarc's ability to fulfil its mandate. The founders of the association were wise not to link economic and social cooperation to resolution of political disputes. If anything, they saw successful cooperation as creating the conditions which might enable a successful resolution of differences,'' Mr Menon asserted.
Pointing out that the Saarc Charter provided clarity in this regard, he said all successful regional groupings in the world developed while showing determination not to let the political disputes hinder their growth.
"As experience of every other successful regional grouping shows, whether the EU or Asean, it was determination not to allow major political disputes to interfere with pursuit of their common economic interest that opened the door to effective economic cooperation and integration," he said.
"Our complementarities and opportunities spring from the amazing diversity of South Asia," he observed, adding that all Saarc members emerged as trade and economic partners of developed countries.