ISLAMABAD: Member of India's Rajya Sabha Mani Shankar Aiyer on Thursday praised the Pakistani government for making decisive moves towards normalising Indo-Pak trade, and hoped that the two countries could "realistically" become each other's most-favoured nations.
"History may have divided us but geography binds us, and a shared inheritance holds as much potential to keep India and Pakistan apart as it has in keeping them apart," Aiyer said at a policy discussion seminar titled, 'India and Pakistan: Retrospect and Prospect?'. The event had been organised by the Jinnah Institute.
He said that it was not communal animosity, but national hostility that keeps India and Pakistan apart. Mani Shankar Aiyer, who was a minister in India's Union Cabinet for Petroleum and Natural Gas (2004-2006), for Youth Affairs and Sports (2006-2008) and for Development of the Northern Region (2006-2009), has also served in the Indian Foreign Service for 26 years. He has also served as consul general of India in Karachi (1978-1982). "Pakistan is a modern nation-state, now under serious threat from armed religious fanatics, but it is not about to succumb as a society or as a state to elements who, even in a moderate garb, have rarely managed to win more than a tiny handful of seats in any election," he said. The Indian leader said that any strategy built on the presumption that Pakistan could not survive is misconceived, misplaced, and dangerously misleading. He also regretted the widely accepted view in Indian circles that Pakistan is a 'failed' or a 'failing' state, and said that such views needed to be countered.
"No state has suffered as much from terrorism as Pakistan itself," he said, adding, "I do believe that a joint strategy to counter terrorism will enable both India and Pakistan to overcome what is, in effect, a joint threat to our people." Aiyer concluded by saying, "Let us give peace a chance; we have nothing to lose but our chains, and we have a world to gain." His lecture was preceded by opening remarks from Aziz Ahmed Khan, honorary vice president of the Jinnah Institute and a former ambassador. He said that Indo-Pak relations had experienced many highs and lows but a leap of faith was needed to find a solution. Jinnah Institute Executive Director Ejaz Haider said that modern experiences were crucial in forming individual identities. He urged India to recognise Pakistan as a reality that would not go away. During the question-answer session, the audience asked what effect opposing mindsets had on the Indo-Pak peace process. Responding to this, Aiyer said that mindsets could change "and there is a symbiotic relationship between mindsets and ground realities, and that the narrative of hate must definitely be countered".
Aiyer was the second distinguished speaker for JI's ongoing Indo-Pak Track-II engagement titled, 'Chaophraya Dialogue'. Previously, Dr Shashi Tharoor, member of Lok Sabha and former Indian minister of state for external affairs, delivered a lecture at the Islamabad Club under the aegis of the Distinguished Speaker Series in January 2012. Among future invitees of the Distinguished Speaker Series are Prof Najib Jung, vice chancellor Jamia Millia Islamia Delhi. The Jinnah Institute is an Islamabad-based public policy think-tank that leads two institutionalised Track II processes between India and Pakistan. It was conceptualised and set up by Sherry Rehman in 2010. Sherry Rehman is now serving as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States. The institute has partnered with the Australia India Institute (AII) for the Chaophraya Dialogue. It also plans multiple interactions between policy experts and audiences on both sides of the border.
