Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan, Shiv Shanker Menon, said on Sunday that peace with Pakistan has been an abiding goal and is part of a broader Indian vision.
"India has a vision for our region, the world and ourselves. South Asia is our home. A secure, peaceful and prosperous South Asia is important for our future", Menon said while addressing Round Table Conference held under the aegis of Pakistan National Forum at a hotel here.
The theme of the conference was 'Indian relations-future prospects'. It was attended by the elite, literary, politicians, and parliamentarians.
Kerala-born Shanker stressed that "we need to move forward" to normalisation and on what are sometimes referred to as 'Confidence Building Measures' (CBMs).
He said: "Our chances of resolving the most contentious issues are higher when we tackle them in a warm, friendly and supportive environment."
If India and Pakistan nurture the ties of kinship, commerce and culture, "if we emphasise all that we have in common, we will be able to smooth the fault lines in our relationship", the envoy observed.
Shanker said that India recognises that there would be considerable challenges in the days ahead. To stay the course will require sincerity and stamina, and facing the opponents of peace and the instruments of terror, and of overcoming the bitter legacy of history.
"We begin a complex process, where expectations must not run ahead of reality. We will not reach solutions overnight. What we can and should do is to stay engaged," Shanker said.
He said that India-Pakistan relations are today poised at a moment of hope. "To many of us it seems that we have an opportunity in this moment of transition to move these relations out of the complicated and unhappy course that they have followed in the past."
The High Commissioner recalled that Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf reiterated that Pakistan would not permit any territory under its control to be used for terrorism.
"The Joint Press Statement issued in this respect is a victory for all of us in India and Pakistan, and in the region. It is also a victory for peace", he added.
Shanker said India is committed to the process of dialogue.
"Our experts will discuss nuclear CBMs later this month. Thereafter, the Foreign Secretaries will meet in May-June, followed by meetings of the groups in the composite dialogue in June-July while our Foreign Ministers will then meet in August", he said.
Former President Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari stressed the need for recognising the core issue of Kashmir and said that use of brute force in occupied valley would not work.
He said India and Pakistan should develop trade relations besides granting status of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) to each other. He said both nations could jointly move forward in the field of scientific research.
The two nations, he said, should invest in each other's country.
Chief of Pakistan National Forum Colonel (Retd) Ikramullah said that the fact that Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee had approached the Indian voters with a slogan of peace with Pakistan augurs well for the future prospects of Pak-India relations.
Mehnaz Rafi, Lieutenant General K.M. Azhar, Fareed Piracha, Sartaj Aziz and Lieutenant General Nishat Ahmed also addressed the meeting.
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