By TCN News,
New Delhi: Arguing against the negativities that inform Indo-Pak relations, the Pakistan’s High Commissioner, Mr. Abdul Basit observed that it was incumbent upon the leadership both in India and Pakistan to create a peaceful environment in the region for resolution of problems that bedevil the bilateral ties.
Addressing a group of academicians and scholars in Jamia Millia Islamia on “Pakistan’s Foreign Policy: Challenges and Priorities” Mr. Abdul Basit acknowledged that the Pakistan’s Foreign Policy was underpinned by the security quest vis-à-vis India and therefore other considerations like development and establishment of fair and just international order could not receive adequate impetus. It was imperative, Mr. Basit felt, that both India and Pakistan get out of vicious cycle of wars and non-productive diplomacy that have failed to resolve the core issues.
Defining bilateral ties and attempting to anchor diplomacy in truthfulness, Mr. Basit opined that both India and Pakistan should not take the dialogue process as a favour by one to another and called for a sustained comprehensive dialogue process which need not reinvent the wheel but capitalize on the ground that has already been covered by both the countries in the past.
Speaking against stereotypes that permeate national psyche both in India and Pakistan, Mr. Basit observed that Pakistan is one of the most misunderstood countries in the world and it was time to join hands to combat lack of development in the region.
Earlier, Prof. S.M. Sajid, Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia welcomed the Pakistan’s High Commissioner and called for deeper understanding of Pakistan and sustained engagement through greater traffic between the two countries in terms of academic exchange, joint seminars and research. He observed that Pakistan Studies Programme in the Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia was working assiduously in this direction.