News
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Pak-Indian should develop peaceful relations: Shahbaz*Chief minister says efforts be made to resolve issues through dialogue
Staff Report
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that Pakistan and India will have to develop peaceful relations and make efforts to resolve all outstanding issues between the two countries, including Kashmir.
Shahbaz expressed these views at a luncheon hosted in honour of Indian Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Saturday.
He said that both the countries would have made much progress if mutual issues had been resolved through dialogue and resources had been spent on the welfare and uplift of the masses instead of wasting these on wars.
He said that it was high time that both the countries gave up confrontation and followed peace process. He said that poverty, disease and ignorance were common enemies of both the countries and collective efforts were needed to overcome these problems. He said that outstanding issues would have to be resolved through negotiations as there was no other option.
Shahbaz said that war was not the solution to problems but these could be resolved through negotiations.
He said that during the tenure of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had come to Lahore and declared at Minar-e-Pakistan that India accepted Pakistan from its heart.
He said that had the democratic process continued in Pakistan, many irritants in Indo-Pak relations would have been removed and solid progress had been made towards solution of Kashmir, water and many other issues. Instead of indulging in arms race, the chief minister asserted people of India and Pakistan should compete in education, science, art and other fields and resolve their outstanding problems in a peaceful manner.
He said that destiny of the region could be changed only if the two countries concentrated on the prosperity of their people. He said that there was a need to promote mutual contacts at public level between the two countries, and that realities should be accepted no matter how bitter they were.
He said that the two countries have fought three wars and millions of lives have been lost but the basic issues were still unresolved.
He stressed the need for replacing what he termed the existing oppressive system of social and economic inequalities with a system based on justice and fair play and said that economic and social exploitation would have to be done away with for changing the existing state of affairs. He said that revolutionary project of Danish School System had been introduced for the children deprived of basic education and it would bring about a positive change in their lives.
He said that it was his firm belief that social progress was not possible without removing disparity between the rich and the poor, therefore, the Punjab government was attaching special importance to education and other public welfare projects.
He said that Pakistan was facing terrorism and could not make progress without elimination of this menace. If European countries can live in peace and harmony after protracted wars and disputes, why not India and Pakistan move forward in a peaceful manner, he questioned. However, he said, it was essential that they should find a just solution to all their issues. On the occasion, Indian Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar appreciated the public welfare projects initiated by the chief minister. Besides members of Indian delegation, Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal, Senior Adviser to CM Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa, Provincial Minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, parliamentarians and senior columnist Ataul Haq Qasmi were also present on the occasion.Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk