Expressing the hope that New Delhi and Islamabad would leave past hostilities, Indian opposition leader and BJP president, L.K. Advani, who embarks on a week-long visit to Pakistan on Monday, said the ambience between the two neighbouring countries today is that of creating a "new future".
The trip is in continuation to the bold and historic initiative started by former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to seek lasting peace, Advani said in a statement here on Sunday.
"I am happy to note that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government have continued to carry forward this agenda of peace through dialogue," he added.
Referring to the joint statement issued in Islamabad on January 6, 2004 after talks between the then prime minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf as a "major breakthrough", he said it brought about a radical change in bilateral relations.
Credit must also be given for valuable contributions made by parliamentarians and functionaries of various parties of both the sides, as well as by civil society representatives as media persons, businessmen, lawyers, artists and cultural personalities, Advani maintained.
"All this has created an atmosphere of hope that our two countries will be able to leave behind hostilities of the past six decades and create a new future of peaceful, friendly and co-operative relations, befitting two sovereign nations that are more than neighbours connected by a border," Advani said.
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