Former Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh has stressed on the continuation of Indo-Pak dialogues and people to people contact to foster better and friendly relations between the two nuclear armed rivals. He was speaking at a leading British think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)- here on Wednesday evening on his recently written book "Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence".
He called for demolishing what he called a 'Berlin wall' between the two countries and greater access to the citizens of two countries into each other country. Singh, who hails from desert State of Rajasthan, and has many relatives still living across the border in Tharparkar, recalled the difficulties of the people to travel to respective countries.
"For a journey of 35 kilometres across Tharparkar border into Rajasthan and vice versa, one has to undertake a travelling of over three thousand kilometres," he pointed out. Last August, Singh's political biography of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah led to a national controversy in India. He was criticised for praising Pakistan's founder and blaming Indian leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru for the partition of India.
He was subsequently expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and his book banned by the BJP-run state Government of Gujarat for questioning the role of India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. Singh also served as a cabinet Minister for Finance, External Affairs and Defence in the BJP-led Union Government from 1999 to 2004.
He told the audience that the personal equation between Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah was not good but the latter enjoyed warm and cordial friendship with his father Motilal Nehru and both often met in the evenings. Singh said while Jinnah was a self-made man, Nehru on the other hand belonged to a rich family. He said it was unfortunate that Jinnah could not live longer after the birth of Pakistan and had he lived long enough, his country would have been in a better position.
Jinnah, he said, was ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity and this title was given by Gopal Krishan Gokhale, a Congress party leader. Turning to the current situation in the region, he expressed his disappointment and said peace was essential among the countries. He said SAARC has not fulfilled its promise and needs to re-think about its role and make itself an effective organisation with economy has its main driver.
Singh said the Indian Government will also have to address the question of peace in the region. In response to a question, he expressed doubt that United States will ever allow India to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
On the internal situation in India, he said the country face the question of good governance, corruption and most seriously the threat from Maoists in eastern part of the country. Externally unstable neighbourhood was also an added worry for the present Indian leadership, he further observed. The discussion was chaired by Rahul Roy Chaudhry, senior fellow for South Asia at the IISS.