Click to play videoNew Delhi: Pakistan discretely avoided the K-word at SAARC this time, but still raised the bilateral issues with India obliquely as the summit opened in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Addressing the summit, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said it was essential to remove "obstacles of the trust deficit which has hampered meaningful cooperation in the region."
Just ahead of his visit to Delhi, Aziz had harped on the resolution of the Kashmir issue, which he says was a "must" for SAARC to
realise its full potential. "SAARC has a lot of potential. But dispute resolution, particularly the Kashmir issue and peace and harmony, was a must to realise this potential," he said.
On Tuesday, Aziz, however, avoided mentioning Kashmir. He just said Pakistan favours "peaceful co-existence" and building of inter-dependencies and sharing of best practices. "Political will", he said, was the initial requirement for regional integration.
Aziz made the remark a day ahead of his scheduled meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on Wednesday, when the two leaders are to review the bilateral relations and discuss, among other, the key issues of Siachen, Sir Creek and terrorism.
"The reason why we have been slow in catching up with the other regional organisations is evident. The political environment in South Asia has remained vitiated by disputes and mistrust. We have been mired in conflict management," the Pakistan PM said.
"We must have the necessary political will. We must rise above our differences for the greater good of our people," Aziz said.
He said the principles of peaceful coexistence and building inter-dependency between nations should be adhered to strictly "to help each other in order to help ourselves".
Aziz noted that the "drain of our energies" due to conflict management has held back the region from achieving the SAARC goals. He proposed a "roadmap" which includes promotion of an environment of "genuine peace and security" in South Asia, saying it was directly linked to development.
"This requires us to resolve the differences and disputes within and between our countries through dialogue and compromise," Aziz said. "We must be able to rise above our differences for the greater good of our people and our future generations," he said.
With inputs from PTI
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