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'Bury the past, start afresh'

Ramesh Menon in New Delhi

It was a conference where minds met, prejudices broke down and a sincere willingness to find solutions to the problems between India and Pakistan emerged.

The general mood was that both countries stood to gain if they could bury their past and start anew.

The two day 'India-Pakistan Conference On Development Perspectives In The New Millennium: Forging India-Pakistan Partnership', organised by the Indian Council of Social Sciences started in New Delhi on Tuesday.

It has over eighty delegates from both the countries deliberating on politics, security, communication, business, science and technology and education.

Delegates who were social scientists, businessmen, journalists and academics from both the countries called for a paradigm shift in the prejudiced perceptions about each other.

Prof ML Sondhi, chairman of the ICSSR, said that various ministries shot down the idea of the conference when it was first floated.

The home, the human resource development and the external affairs ministries were opposed to the idea, but ultimately had to give in because of the pressure by the civil society and the intervention of the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said Sondhi.

Sondhi pointed out that India and Pakistan needed to evolve a model of conflict resolution. Both countries could draw upon rich traditions, he said.

Hamid Haroon, editor and publisher of Dawn from Karachi, in an emotional speech said, "For this comedy of errors, we only had our incompetence and ineptitude to blame as we had bartered everything away for political gains. The myths we created had become monsters. We sacrificed generations when we could have forged ahead. The resolution of Kashmir is important as was an obstacle to the progress to both the countries."

Haroon pointed out that in the last six weeks, both Musharraf and Vajpayee had overturned the wrongs that history had done and the parameters of their thinking had changed.

"No one can put up a fence between the people of Pakistan and India," he said.

In her inaugural address, Najma Heptulla, deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, said that conflict was an expensive luxury. The people of both the countries shared the same dreams and aspirations and they needed to break the shackles that had kept them apart. The path to do this was difficult, but not impossible, she added.

M J Akbar, editor of Asian Age, said that there was skepticism about the Indo-Pak summit because of the many false starts earlier.

He pointed out that there could be no harvest from a battlefield and it was time that common sense prevailed. Both Vajpayee and Musharraf would pay a price if they failed, but both had taken the risk, as talking peace was more difficult than waging a war, he added.

Delegates discussing security issues underlined the need to put in place a nuclear command system and also called for arms control and said that even China could be roped in.

The group emphasised on a paradigm shift from the security of borders to the security of its civil society.

Delegates discussing business felt bilateral and regional cooperation in trade be improved. They wanted the removal of trade barriers, improving trade structures in terms of better land and sea trade routes and a bilateral treaty to ensure investment protection irrespective of the political set up.

They wanted India to be granted the 'most favoured nation' status. The fear that Pakistan would be swamped if it opened doors to India was something that was there in the minds of politicians and not businessmen, the delegates felt.

Delegates discussing science and technology emphasised on increased cooperation for greater one-to-one interaction between Pakistan and Indian entrepreneurs, scientists, technologists and businessmen.

They stressed that there should be cooperation in crucial areas like technology transfer, especially in the information technology sector.

The group discussing communication underlined the sense of ignorance that people in both countries suffered from. They agreed that the media was responsible for perpetuating false myths and propaganda.

Journalists from both countries felt that it was ridiculous not to have a free flow of information. Books, magazines and newspapers of both the countries must be easily available to each other, they said.

The various groups will give their final recommendations at the conference on Wednesday. The ICSSR plans to document it and send it to both Vajpayee and Musharraf before the summit.

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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