April 11, 2007
Prosperous, Moderate Pakistan
is in India's Interests: Menon
New Delhi
Observing that India and Pakistan have an historic "opportunity to
remake their relations fundamentally", Foreign Secretary Shivshankar
Menon Wednesday said that "a stable, moderate and prosperous
Pakistan is in India's interests" and can help in securing stability
of the entire region.
"Thanks to the peace process we stand at a moment of opportunity to
remake our relations fundamentally, breaking out of past patterns,
and that we need not repeat the past if we learn from it," he said
in his valedictory address at the end of the two-day seminar on
India-Pakistan ties at Jamia Millia Islamia.
Menon also stressed that although there has been "considerable
progress" on some contentious issues like Kashmir, Siachen and Sir
Creek, Pakistan needs to do "much more to curb terrorism".
The chief problem continues to be trust deficit, Menon said, and
stressed that unlike India, Pakistan suffers from a "vision deficit"
in its view of relationship with India.
"Unfortunately much more remains to be done by Pakistan to curb
cross-border terrorism, which continues, despite some fluctuations
and variations over time," Menon told strategic experts and
academics, some of whom were also from Pakistan.
"In fact, the tragic earthquake in 2005 saw the rehabilitation and
increasing public prominence of terrorist organizations in Pakistan
and Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
Alluding to "differences and issues" between the two countries,
including Jammu and Kashmir, Menon stressed that these are being
discussed by the two neighbors in a dialogue that is "unprecedented
in its depth and quality".
Outlining the need for mutual growth and co-existence, Menon said:
"India needs a stable, prospering Pakistan, at peace with herself,
on India's periphery. India sincerely believes that a stable,
prosperous and moderate Pakistan is in the interest of India and the
subcontinent."
Likewise, Menon stressed that "a stable, prospering India could
actively assist Pakistan's quest to develop herself".
Referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's defining speech in
Amritsar on March 24 last year in which he outlined his vision of a
cooperative relationship between India and Pakistan, Menon said
there was no similar description of "Pakistan's larger or
longer-term vision for a relationship with India".
The last time Pakistan articulated such a vision was when its
founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah expressed his wish that Pakistan should
be to India as Canada is to the USA, Menon said.
Warning against a zero-sum game, Menon underlined that the best bet
for better ties lies in the continued people-to-people contacts.
"People of India and Pakistan are ahead of their establishments and
are the driving force in the peace process," he said while exploding
various myths surrounding India-Pakistan ties.
Underlining a favorable international climate for remaking of
India-Pakistan ties, Menon stressed that in the final analysis it's
for the two countries to "take responsibility for our own
relationship and our future".
"Thanks to the peace process, we today have an opportunity to break
out of this pattern. I do hope that we will take it," he added.
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