Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Monday that the stage has now come for Pakistan and India to move towards dispute resolution and called for a just settlement of the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir to ensure durable peace and security in South Asia.
"Considerable progress has been made through confidence building measures and people to people contacts which has reduced tensions and improved the bilateral atmosphere," he told an august gathering of intellectuals, scholars and diplomats.
The Prime Minister was invited by the prestigious 'The Geneva Centre for Security Policy' and 'Graduate Institute of International Studies' to share his thought and vision on the theme of "Pakistan: A rising nation".
"The stage has now come for the two countries (Pakistan and India) to move beyond dispute management to dispute resolution. Durable peace and security requires a just settlement of the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people," the Prime Minister said. He said a lasting solution must be acceptable to all three stakeholders - Pakistan, India and above all the Kashmiris.
Prime Minister Aziz called for demonstrating courage, determination, flexibility and commitment, saying "we remain ready to do our part". He referred to several ideas put forward by President General Pervez Musharraf including self-governance and demilitarisation, which were aimed at taking the process forward. "We will continue to pursue this objective," he added.
Prime Minister Aziz, in his comprehensive speech, gave an overview of a qualitative transformation that has taken place in Pakistan in less than a decade and has revitalised and repositioned the country as a key player on the international scene. He also spoke on major conflicts and challenges facing the world today and analysed their implications for a global peace and security.
Drawing linkage between development and security, he said Pakistan's policies to ensure internal development have been complimented by efforts to build architecture of security and co-operation in the neighbourhood and beyond.
This architecture, he added, is based on four pillars that includes promoting dialogue aimed at resolving outstanding disputes and ongoing conflicts that breed terrorism and violence as well as tensions between states and maintaining credible deterrence and pursing strategic restraint to avoid an arms race and preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Strengthening global and regional institutions for economic co-operation and evolving more coherent and effective co-ordination between donors and multilateral agencies to reduce and remove poverty, promote development and to protect the environment, have been the other two pillars of the government's policy, he added.
Prime Minister shared with the select gathering, the journey of the Pakistani nation on the path of recovery and resurgence, towards becoming a vibrant, progressive and prosperous nation.
He recalled that nearly 7 years, the offers were empty, the economy was stagnant and the debt burden unbearable and the country isolated with mounting tensions on our borders. "In less than a decade a qualitative transformation has taken place in Pakistan. Over the past 7 years we have revitalised and repositioned Pakistan as a key player on the international scene," he added.
Prime Minister Aziz said the transformation of Pakistan has been the result of a conscious and deliberate policy and not an accident of fate driven by global changes.
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