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MPs call for bold steps to end Indo-Pak hostility

Lawmakers from Pakistan and India today said bold initiatives are necessary to end 51 years of bitterness and hostility between the world's newest nuclear powers.

"The governments of India and Pakistan should take all possible steps to lessen the probability of a nuclear catastrophe initiated by accident," they said in a statement issued at the end of a two-day conference organised by the English-language daily The News.

The legislators called for bilateral talks on nuclear issues to reduce tensions and control a possible nuclear arms race on the subcontinent.

Sushma Swaraj, leader of the delegation of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, said the fact that the lawmakers of the two countries could meet was itself a success. "At least we have started to talk," she said.

Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto urged the two countries to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and a moratorium on fissile material production, and resist the development, testing, and storage of ballistic missiles.

The legislators of the two countries said misunderstandings and mistrust have soured relations between Pakistan and India despite their shared history and culture.

"Nobody is for war in Pakistan and India," said Gohar Ayub Khan, a former Pakistani foreign minister. "Let us sit down and talk... and go into the crux of the matter."

Khan said the two nations should take bold initiatives to bring a lasting peace to the subcontinent.

"Major conflicts of the world are over... the Cold War has ended. Taking advantage of this atmosphere, we should also take peace initiatives," he said.

But he did not specify what initiatives could be taken.

Thirty-five lawmakers from India and 60 from Pakistan attended the conference.

Bhutto said the region faces a most unsettling and dangerous situation and questioned the maturity of the leaders of the two countries to deal with the new nuclear reality.

"I am convinced that none of us knows the true horrors of these weapons, nor the devastation nuclear weapons can inflict upon our people when used," she said.

Entering the nuclear arena requires wisdom and patience of leaders, which has not been demonstrated so far by either country, she said.

"Do we have adequate controls over these dangerous weapons? Have we built clear-cut lines of communication between those who watch these weapons and those who decide their use?" she said.

AP

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