NEW DELHI: India Sunday expressed willingness to taking unilateral measures to weave a new pattern of cooperative relations with Pakistan and other neighbors but wanted some of the irritants vitiating bilateral ties with Islamabad addressed immediately, PTI reports.
Speaking at a dinner hosted in honor of visiting Pakistan foreign minister Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, India’s External Affairs Minister Gujral said the new government would like to be guided by the Simla agreement in resolving the issues that were currently under serious and active discussion.
Sahibzada Yaqub Khan arrived here earlier in the evening for a three day visit, mainly to decide the venue of the fifth summit of the South Asian Association for regional cooperation (SAARC) and discuss the tension caused in bilateral ties by the upsurge in militant activities in the border states of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto held a high level meeting in Islamabad Saturday to review the situation in the two Indian states.
Indian Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh had conveyed India’s concern to Bhutto’s special envoy Abdul Sattar, who visited ‘New Delhi in the second week of January and cautioned that such things could become difficult to manage if allowed to grow.
Gujral in his dinner speech said India believed in a strong Pakistan as a factor of strength for India. “The Simla agreement has given us nearly two decades of peace,” he noted.
He stressed that principles and concepts enshrined in the Simla agreement must remain the bedrock of Indo-Pak relationship.
India, Gujral said, was keen to enhance economic, commercial and cultural exchanges between the two countries, “We wish to make travel between our two countries much less cumbersome,” he: said.
The Indian minister said meetings between foreign, home and defense secretaries could be scheduled.
Meetings of the four sub-commissions of the Indo-Pak joint commission would also be held over the next few months, he said. These could attempt to further liberalize the visa regimen increase the number of pilgrims and places of pilgrimage and work out a free flow of ideas, newspapers and magazines, Gujral added.
He said India was deeply committed to strengthening the process of Regional Cooperation through SAARC.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 26, 1990
