Pakistan India Relations: Prospects and Retrospect

LAHORE- A no war pact for a period of fifty years should be inked between Pakistan and India to avoid perils of war and the process of composite dialogue must be continued without any interruption between the two countries. These views were expressed by speakers at a seminar on ‘Pakistan India Relations: Prospects and Retrospect’ organised by the Forum for International Relations Development (FIRD) in Lahore. Journalists, academicians, scholars, intellectuals, politicians and think-tanks spoke on the occasion.

The speakers included FIRD Chairman MBE Toaha Qureshi, FIRD Strategy & Coordination Director Arif Anis Malik, Columnist Ataur Rehman, Director News One Sajad Mir, leading journalists Rizwan Razi, Arshad Arif, Amir Hashim Khkwani, Rauf Tahir, Ajmal Shah Din, Mian Ahmad Yar, M. Shoaib Adil, Khalid Chaudhry, Naeem Arif, Khalid Mehmood Khalid, Inees Mufti, Naeem Bloch and Imtiaz-ul-Haq from South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA).

The participants said a no war pact for a period of fifty years should be inked between Pakistan and India to avoid perils of war and the process of composite dialogue must be continued without interruption.

FIRD Chairman Toaha Qureshi said his organisation in its 2011-2015 strategy had charted to engage and consult politicians, intelligentsia, opinion makers , executives and statuary bodies of both the governments to initiate a meaningful dialogue eventually culminating into a summit and possibly brokering a fifty years ‘No War Pact between India and Pakistan.
“The pact for fifty years between the two countries is an excellent idea which will, no doubt, cut defence budget of both the countries enabling them to spend it on the welfare of their people and economic uplift”, Ataur Rehman said. However, it is for India to be committed to the pact as it often says that it has nothing to do with Pakistan and its military establishment is for China.

Sajad Mir said that people of both the countries need to understand the fact they have to do something solid to improve ties between the two countries. Fair minded Indians and Pakistanis have to come forward to take the reins in their hands to solve bilateral issues, Mir said.

Rizwan Razi said that India had given Pakistan the status of Most Favoured Nation, however, Pakistani traders could not properly export to India as it had put 24 trade barriers. On the other hand, Pakistan has given India a free hand to export products to Pakistan. India should be fair in its dealings with Pakistan for good relationships between the two countries.

Arshad Ahmad Arif said, “Cutting defence budget does not make any difference as there are many nations in the world which have been making progress equally on defence and social fronts. There is a need to properly spend our education and health budgets. Our issues cannot be solved by signing the no war pact only until we come forward with good intentions to resolve issues”, he asserted.

Amir Khakwani said that Kashmir issue has to be resolved to develop strong ties between the two countries. “No war pact would do anything as when war erupts all pacts prove to be futile. Both countries need to resolve their mutual issues”.

“We need to be truthful in our dealings with each other and have faith in each other,” Rauf Tahir said. He said that Pakistan’s backwardness was because of corrupt practices in all walks of life. We spend 18 per cent of our total budget on defence and if 82 percent of the budget is spent on economic development in real terms, we would not lag behind any country of the world in march on the road to development, Tahir concluded.

Maqsood and Imtiaz-ul-Haq said there was a dire need to probe the factors which led to sabotage of peace talks as whenever peace talks started, they were sabotaged for one or the other reason. On both sides there were elements that wanted to destroy peace of the region, however, serious minded people of both the countries had long been desiring strong relations between the two countries and peace in the region. They asserted.

Khalid Ch. said that if both countries want peace in the region they should set aside their core issues for the time being and go forward to compromise on smaller things and afterwards there would be a possibility to resolve the core issues. People of both the countries should try to improve their mutual relations and the civil and military leadership needed to change their attitudes, he said.

Shoaib Adil and Nayyar Khan held Pakistani leadership responsible for the hostile relationships between the two countries. He quoted Indus Water Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah who had many times complained that his statements had always been distorted to create uncertainty among the people of both the countries.
Wjahat Masood and Imtiaz-ul-Haq said there was a dire need to probe the factors which led to sabotage of peace talks.

The symposium ended with the conclusive remarks of Mr. Toaha Qureshi MBE who shared that the visit organised by FIRD was mainly exploratory in nature to pick brain of Pakistani and later Indian intelligentsia. He mentioned that FIRD would organise an international conference later this year in the light of the insights gained through this visit.