‘Political will, bold leadership can realise Pak-India peace’

ISLAMABAD: German Ambassador Martin Kobler said that political will and bold leadership could change India-Pakistan rivalry into friendship.

Answering a question of Hamid Mir, host of 'Capital Talk' programme on Geo TV that how the possibility of peace in the region could be enlightened from example of Germany and France, Kobler said that first important thing was that there should be a political desire for peace and this could not be possible unless they had bold leadership like Charles de Gaulle and Konard Adenauer. He said it was necessary that the series of dialogue should continue and suspending of talks was not solution to any issue.

On the question of holding Indo-Pak talks, he said he could only give an advice in this regard. He said that there was no justification of war and killing of millions of people in the 21st century. He said that in his view Europe had to become one due to financial issues. He said that business-to-business and people-to-people contacts should be increased, border should be opened and it should be for all countries. He said that talks should be held to resolve all the issues.

French and German rivalry is known among the longest rivalries in the history of the world. It started in 1870 and continued till the end of Second World War in 1945. Different turns came in the tale of this generation-to-generation rivalry.

During interviews in the programme ‘Capital Talk’ with the host Hamid Mir on Sunday, French Ambassador Marc Barety and German Ambassador Martin Kobler expressed their views on this rivalry and development and prosperity of Europe with the end of this enmity between both the countries with the signing of Elysee Treaty on January 22, 1963 between the then French president Charles de Gaulle and German chancellor Konard Adenauer.

Hamid Mir first asked question to French Ambassador Marc Barety to provide details of rivalry between France and Germany and how many people were killed during these wars.

French ambassador said that wars started in the beginning of 19th century. He said that first war took place in 1870 when Napoleon-III ruled France. Germany attacked France and met a big defeat at the site of Sedan and after that France became weak. He said that the next war was World War 1 when both the countries confronted each other. This war, he said, became world war fought in the air, sea, land and under the sea. In 1939, he said, the dispute was bigger than first one in which millions of people died.

When Hamid Mir asked if that rivalry could be considered bigger than rivalry between India and Pakistan, Marc Barety said it was, and added the people who had played decisive role in the First World War created a situation that led to the Second World War.

(To be concluded)