NEW DELHI:
An India-Pakistan Track II diplomacy initiative onFriday sent out a
message to Islamabad and New Delhi, pressing on the new Indian
government which emerges in April elections, to continue the positive
initiatives taken under previous governments.
“Islamabad
and New Delhi must move forward on a menu of outstanding items in order
to move the region out from the shadows of instability, human
insecurity and lost opportunities in trade, energy, information
connectivity,” said a joint resolution issued after the 4th Delhi
Dialogue arranged by the Jinnah Institute and Centre for Dialogue and
Reconstruction, which concluded in New Delhi on Friday.
The
dialogue brought together journalists, policy experts, academics,
advocates, former military officials and diplomats from India and
Pakistan for two days of intense deliberations to discuss a wide range
of outstanding issues between both countries.
The session
on Afghanistan saw support for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned
reconciliation process in Afghanistan and recognised that a peaceful
Afghanistan is essential for regional stability.
It
recommended that serious efforts be made towards exploring the
possibility of Pakistan granting India overland transit rights for trade
with Afghanistan and India granting overland transit rights to Pakistan
for other South Asian countries.
Urging both countries
not to let competing interests in Afghanistan negatively impact
bilateral relations, it also urged the regional countries to initiate a
dialogue on adopting a non-interventionist policy.
“We
urge both countries to engage with each other to clarify each other’s
apprehensions on a post-2014 Afghanistan. We recommend that
opportunities for mutual cooperation in the development and
reconstruction of Afghanistan be explored, especially under the aegis of
Saarc,” said the resolution.
On Kashmir, the resolution
agreed that the bilateral dialogue should be irreversible and
uninterruptable and urged both India and
Pakistan to fully
implement all agreed CBM’s cooperate on outstanding issues and address
each other’s concern on key issues like “Kashmir as well as terrorism
with the aim of resuming the stalled bilateral dialogue.”
Both
governments were urged to urgently take up discussions on Jammu and
Kashmir so that a solution that is acceptable to India,Pakistan and the
people of Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control can be found.
Of
importance was a recommendation that Non-Discriminatory Market Access
be granted by Pakistan to India at the earliest, urging India to remove
all non-tariff barriers to facilitate trade between both countries.
A
statement issued later by the Jinnah Institute said: “As South Asia and
the wider region grapples with the menace of transnational conflict, a
renewed vigor is required towards resuming the stalled bilateral
dialogue between Pakistan and India participants agreed at the recently
concluded Delhi Dialogue on Friday.”
Against the backdrop
of the upcoming Indian elections, participants agreed that expected
victory of a Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could have a
transformative effect on bilateral relations between both the
countries.
Despite skepticism, participants unanimously
hoped that the new government in New Delhi will build upon earlier
initiatives taken under previous governments and expeditiously pursue
the revival of the stalled dialogue process with Pakistan.
The
Pakistani delegation impressed upon its Indian counterparts that unlike
India, a cross-party consensus existed in Pakistan on improving
relations with India and resolving all outstanding issues. They said
that recent overtures of the Pakistan government presented an
opportunity which must be reciprocated by India.
The
participants also analyzed last year’s ceasefire violations and called
on both Indian and Pakistani military establishments to regularise high
level staff and field commander meetings to resolve any future untoward
incidents on the LoC.
Noting that people-to-people
contacts were essential in improving relations between the two nuclear
armed neighbours, the dialogue participants recommended the extension of
the one year multiple entry visa policy towards all category of
travelers, particularly media-persons, artists, students and academics.
They
urged both governments to ensure that the Wagah-Attari border is opened
for 24 hour operations and both governments should explore
opportunities for opening all economically feasible land routes between
India and Pakistan for trade and travel, particularly Ganda
Singhwala-Ferozpur, Muktasar-Fazilka and Khokhrapar-Munabao.
The
Pakistan delegation comprised former ambassador Sherry Rehman,
parliamentarian Shafqat Mahmood, former ambassador Aziz Ahmad Khan,
former DG ISPR Lt Gen Athar Abbas, Syed Babar Ali, Arshad Zuberi, senior
journalists Zahid Hussain, Mariana Baabar, Amir Mateen and Ammara
Durrani.
The India delegation comprised former foreign
secretary Salman Haider, former Ambassadors Jayant Prasad and Sharat
Sabharwal, Dr Rajmohan Gandhi, Siddharth Vardarajan, Prem Shankar Jha,
former Lt General Syed Ata Hasnain, Jyoti Malhotra, Suhasini Haidar, Gul
Muhammad Wani, Sunil Sethi, and Syeda Hammeda.
ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to Chairman Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan and the Attorney General over Imran's
petition against the appointment of Chairman National Accountability
Bureau (NAB).
ISLAMABAD:
Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar said on
Wednesday that the political leadership has expressed its resolve to
overcome trade issues with Russia and take forward bilateral trade
relations.