Good relations between India and Pakistan are good not just for both the countries but for South Asia as a whole.
ALBANY, NY, US: This is with reference to Imtiaz Gul’s article of November 24 titled “How South Asia can learn from Japan and Korea”. I agree with the premise that good relations between India and Pakistan are good not just for both the countries but for South Asia as a whole.
That said, memories of the Mumbai terror attacks are still fresh in the collective memory of the Indian psyche and hence these cannot be brushed aside or wished away. Of course, if Pakistan were to take action to ensure that something like that does not happen again, that would help heal the wounds.
As for India having good ties with its neighbours, it seems to be doing fine with Bangladesh, Nepal (whose present prime minister studied in Delhi) and Sri Lanka (whose president said at the Saarc summit recently that India was a “family relative” and that it would always be his country’s “first preference”. India also has good ties with Myanmar.
As for the issue of Most-Favoured Nation status, it granted this to Pakistan in 1996 and Pakistan has reciprocated only now. So it is unfair to suggest that India has been lagging on this issue.
P Lal
Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2011.
