Abdul Bari Masoud for MuslimMirror.com
New Delhi: Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit has stressed need that India and Pakistan must move from conflict management to conflict resolution while senior Congress leader and former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar asserted that Delhi has not succeeded in isolating Pakistan at any global platform.
“Diplomacy is the art of the possible. It must be given a fair chance to deliver. Both India and Pakistan must move from conflict management to conflict resolution,” Pakistan envoy to India Abdul Basit said.
He was addressing the roundtable conference on India-Pakistan relations organized by Centre for Peace and Progress (CPP) at India International Centre, here on Thursday evening.
Quoting Mani Shankar Aiyar, who had said that the dialogue between India and Pakistan must be uninterrupted and uninterruptible, Basit said, “There was no reciprocity from India for Pakistan’s efforts to have dialogue.”
He said the resolution of the Kashmir issue was central to the peace process between India and Pakistan. “It takes two to tango”.
Aiyar in his address said Basit’s speech was remarkable because he did not refer to the “terror export” from Pakistan to India even once. He said Pakistan was in total denial of the “jihadists bred on its soil”, whose only objective was to “kill Indians and achieve glory”. Aiyar expressed regret that the diplomatic missions in both India and Pakistan had singularly failed in achieving their objective of normalizing ties between the two nations.
“Pakistan’s former president Gen Pervez Musharraf had boldly initiated a peace process that could have resolved the Kashmir issue and also normalized relations between the two countries,” he emphasized said.
Aiyar asserted that India had not succeeded in isolating Pakistan at any global platform. “Whether it has a democratic government or not is Pakistan’s burden. It is meaningless for India to ask whom do we talk to”.
“It was also wrong on part of India to insist that talks could not happen if Pakistan continued the relentless export of terror to India. If there is no terror, what are you going to talk about,” he said.
Aiyar said that globally, nations had kept the dialogue process uninterrupted despite war-like situations, citing the example of Vietnam and United States talks amidst war. He urged India and Pakistan to initiate dialogue and keep it going despite challenges.
Earlier, initiating the roundtable conference, President CPP OP Shah said the civil society can play a significant role in normalizing the strained relations between India and Pakistan.
Former RAW chief and Kashmir analyst A S Dulat noted that increased hostility between India and Pakistan have always led to increase in cross border violence, claiming lives of soldiers and civilians on both sides.
“Pakistan was doing a great disservice to Kashmir by hyping up the issue so much. The hype created by Pakistan has made people of India hostile towards the Kashmir issue,” he said adding, “One of the most important issues for India and Pakistan now was to revive the 2003 border ceasefire”.
Former MP from J&K, Abdul Rashid Kabli said Kashmir had always borne the brunt of the hostility between India and Pakistan.
Senior journalist and Chief Editor of Rising Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari, said resolution of the Kashmir issue was pivotal for achieving lasting peace in the subcontinent.
He recalled how the bonhomie between India and Pakistan between2003 to 2008 brought a discernible change in the situation.
“There is no alternative to have a dialogue process between Srinagar and New Delhi and New Delhi and Islamabad. Both processes are complimentary and supplementary to each other. None of process in isolation can bring any result,” Bukhari said adding New Delhi must understand that road to peace and stability in Kashmir goes through Islamabad.
Former Indian Vice Air Marshal (Retd) Kapil Kak said the civil society must bear the responsibility to build peaceful ties between the people of India and Pakistan.
He said the civil society on both sides must pressurize their governments to work for normalization of relations between the two countries.
Grover, a former diplomat, said it was essential to acknowledge that Pakistan had never been interested in peace with India.
“If one studied Pakistan’s actions towards India in the last few decades, it would establish that Pakistan did not seek peace with India,” he said.
Director Lehar, Rajni Shaleen Chopra, said it was in India’s national interest to unilaterally and consistently work on peace with Pakistan.
She said strong trade ties and people-to-people contact between the two countries would benefit people on both sides.
Chopra said Pakistan was a far bigger victim of “in-bred terror than India was of terror export from Pakistan.”
“The jihadis from Pakistan will continue to act. India’s acts of peace must exceed and overtake them,” she said.
Issue between India and Pakistan is muslim created two nation theory which muslim having perfected it in India in 1947. According to this muslim theory, Muslims could not live with Hindus and separate homeland. Muslims got a separate Homeland called Pakistan for muslim only. As any history book for 1st grade in india will tell you, Pakistan was created for Muslim and India was for Hindus. But greedy and selfish leadsrs of time Gandhi and Nehru let Muslims stay in India for purely selfish reasons. Gandhi wanted to look statesman to world and Nehru kept muslims for vote bank politics of his family. Gandhi then even died for Pakistan. A little push in 1947 could bave made all muslim to go to Pakistan AND THERE WOULD HAVE PERMANENT PEACE. How do you explain half muslim family is in India which they hate and half in their beloved Pakistan. As long as this is addressed, no peace is possibleon permanent basis.
My suggestion:
Last month British Prime Minister came to India. Her visit was considered failure as granting of visa to Indians was main issue of India.
There are many muslims in india who feel very unhappy living in india and would like to settle in Pakistan. Nothing wrong with that. Thousands of Indian leave daily to settle abroad including Muslims. Even Azam Khan, UP muslim minister said that Indians tell us to go to Pakistan but how.
Many muslims in India whom Indians feel uncomfortable to see them living in india. Government should be ALLOWED TO SELECT ANY MUSLIM LIVING IN INDIA AND ASK HIM OR HER TO MOVE TO PAKISTAN AS AN UNDESIRABLE INDIA.
NEGOTIATE WITH PAKISTAN SAY A 100000 PER YEAR QUOTA TO REPRIATE MUSLIMS LIVING IN INDIA .
ANY MUSLIM LIVING IN INDIA SHOULD BE ABLE TO SETTLE IN PAKISTAN AS A MATTER OF RIGHT AND ANY HINDU OR SIKH TO SETTLE IN INDIA AS A MATTER OF RIGHT
ANY MUSLIM IN INDIA COULD BE ASKED BY GOVERNMENT OF INDIA TO MOVE TO PAKISTAN..
ONLY SUCH DRASTIC STEPS WILL BRING PERMANENT PEACE.
FURTHER, INDIA SHOULD BE DECLARED A HINDU STATE WITH EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL.
Bharat Mata Kee Jai Who ever created Pakistan for what ever reason I cannot go back in time and change the situation. I am an Indian Muslim Born in Indipendent india brought up in india did my education in india living in india since my birth. You give me one logical reason to me why should i go to Pakistan. Don’t talk about past this that and all i am one on one with you. You tell me what is the problem you have with me? Why should i leave India?
If this were true, moreMuslims would not have chosen to stay back in Bharat than to migrate to “nascent” nation called Pakistan, formed essentially by dividing the former British Punjab and Bengal, the two states where their first language, Punjabi and Bengali, come before Islam/Hinduism/Sikhism/Buddhism.
It was Mr Savarkar , who first propounded the two-nation theory and it was he who had tendered an apology to the British government to get the release from cellular jail . Go and read Savarkar’ books. You conveniently forgot that the Muslim leadership in Congress, Jamiat Ulama and Majlis- Ahraar had opposed the partition vehemently but Gandhi ji, Pandit Nehru and Patel had other ideas. So don’t blame only Muslims for partition of the country. Uppre-caste Hindu leadership as well Hindutva forces all are equally responsible for the partition as they wanted to divide Muslims in two parts to weaken their strength. If Muslims would have in full strength then upper-castes would not have enjoyed all the fruits of Independence.