Indian scholar concerned over Indian govt’s bid to expel Pakistan from Saarc

Indo-Pak Relations Panel 

LAHORE: Indian politician, columnist and head of Observer Research Foundation Sudheendra Kulkarni has said that there is an intent among Indian think tanks to flare up and magnify the unrest in Balochistan in order to defile Pakistan’s image globally.

The veteran Indian journalist-turned-politician, while speaking at the panel talk hosted by a private university, complimented the Pakistani people and the government for the fight against terrorism and said that there was a need for both countries to learn to see terrorism as a common threat instead of trying to malign each other through smear and subversive campaigns.

In addition to the guest from India, the panelists at the talk included former Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri, veteran human rights and regional peace activist I A Rahman, PTI MNA Shafqat Mahmood and political analyst Syed Hassan Askari Rizvi. The talk was moderated by Shahid Kardaar, vice-chancellor of the university. 

Lauding the educational institutions and history of Pakistan in the field of education, Kulkerni said that he visited the Punjab University which had the honour of producing two Nobel laureates Har Gobind Khorana and  Professor Dr Abdus Salaam.

He said that over 300,000 students went abroad to study every year from India that amounted to $10 billion every year expenditure, which was more than Indian budget for higher education. If the students are allowed to study in Pakistan by their government through easier visa regime and better relations, it would help a great deal, he said. 

He expressed concern over the negative approach currently being adopted by the Indian government regarding its campaign to eliminate Pakistan from Saarc and talked about how he was forced to conduct the South Asian Conference on Heritage Conservation without Pakistan because all Indian partners had threatened to boycott the conference if Pakistan was invited.

He was of the view that it would be utter shortsightedness of India to pursue such a narrow-minded agenda when Pakistan was one of the fastest growing economies currently with tremendous opportunities.

Kulkerni said that it was important that political leaders and parties had a consistent stance while in government or out of government. Lahore has the best roads in the entire Subcontinent, parks and gardens, and campuses, he said.

Khursheed Kasuri told the participants how Kulkerni had always stood up for peace and sanity when it came to Indo-Pak relations and had even suffered physical harm. He said that communal relations in India needed to improve, otherwise, with the world's second largest Muslim population, they were either sitting on a bomb or genocide.

Like plague, terrorism knows no borders, he said. As long as the Kashmir issue lingers, it's like a cancer that will only get worse, he added. Never there will be solution to Kashmir where 100 percent people on either side will be cheering, he said. However, with the right mindset 80 to 90 percent of the people can be satisfied and that is a massive achievement keeping precedents of international issues as a benchmark, the ex-foreign minister said.

I A Rahman said that both countuires were twins with a common future, the sooner they realised the better. "We need to be talking about shared interests and being constructive components of the Asian century," I A Rahman said, adding that Indo-Pak conflict had destroyed many global and regional alliances and bodies and it might even dismantle Saarc.  

Shafqat  Mahmood said that it is not always easy to even preach for peace sometimes and the current times are no different with sentiments of hatred flaring from the Indian side. Shafqat Mahmood expressed disappointment and said tht he was ina negative and pessimistic frame of mind as not even the low hanging fruit such as Sir Creek, Siachin and visa regime have not made any progress despite decades of diplomacy.

He said that the Indian Media is a major hinderence in creatuing a pro-peace environment in India and that seeps into political realities of electoral politics and thus it becomes virtually impossible for any political party in India to voice pro peace and cooperation views regarding the two countries.   

Hassan Askari said that Indo-Pak relations are complex and convoluted and with periods of relative stability, they have mostly been marred with negativity. He sighted disinterest, hot and cold diplomacy, erratic dialogue and the inclusion of societal elites among policy makers as plausible reasons for it. Proposing a two teiered dialogue, he said there fiorst needs to be introspection at the national level where all p[olitical parties and peple need to be convinced that peace is the only option after which both coutruies should engage in purposeful dialogue. He was of the view that the issue of POWs should be addressed as soon as possible as a low hanging fruit.