India being given the most-favoured nation status by Pakistan can be a boost.
MUMBAI: This is with reference to your editorial “Parliamentarians in India” (August 28). The going is indeed tough, and the tough alone shall get going when it comes to Indo-Pakistan relations. Efforts have been steadily going on with regards to improving bilateral relations between the neighbours, with a rather low rate of success. In other words, there have been positive outcomes, but not in proportion to the efforts made.
The parliamentarians from Pakistan have covered another milestone in making progress in diplomatic relations and certain new sectors, too, have been mooted during the course of discussions besides the old issues of Kashmir and the Wullar Barrage, which is an encouraging development. The easing of the visa regime, as well as talks on developing trade and commerce, is the issue that can change the old paradigm of bilateral relations. There are probabilities that outstanding issues may turn obsolete or may gradually be phased out with the growth of economic relations between the two countries. India being given the most-favoured nation status by Pakistan can be a boost, which can change the future of Indo-Pakistan relations. This will be a case study not just for the citizens of the two nations but perhaps, for the entire world as there are many other countries that do not share cordial relations with their neighbours.
Manoj Joshi
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2012.
