NEW DELHI, 6 November 2004 — Provided Islamabad keeps its pledge to crack down on cross-border militant infiltration, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered yesterday to resolve all outstanding disputes with Pakistan, including Kashmir.
“We are committed to make an honest and sincere effort to resolve all outstanding issues,” Manmohan told a conference in New Delhi.
The only condition was Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf should fulfill his vow to former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee not to allow Pakistan’s soil “to be used for purposes of cross-border terrorism,” he said. “If that commitment is observed in letter and spirit, then India will resolve all outstanding issues through dialogue including Kashmir,” Manmohan said.
Manmohan, whose left-backed Congress government took power in May, also pledged to cooperate with the world community to prevent the spread of mass destruction weapons and tackle terrorism.
“India is committed to working with the world community to make it a safer place,” he said.
India and Pakistan resumed bilateral talks in January after Vajpayee initiated a renewal of the peace process between the nuclear rivals.
After Vajpayee’s Hindu fundamentalist government was ousted at the poll, the Congress government said it would press ahead with the peace process.
The Indian prime minister said New Delhi wanted peace in South Asia to enable trade to flourish in the poverty-struck region.
“South Asia must regain its pre-eminence in the global economy as a sub-continent of creativity and enterprise,” he said. “It is in our shared interest to wage a joint struggle against poverty and ignorance.”
India has demanded that Pakistan shut down what it says are bases of anti-Indian militants on its soil who cross into Indian Kashmir to stage attacks on Indian targets.
The two countries began talks this year to settle the Kashmir dispute after Musharraf vowed to rein in guerrilla activity and Vajpayee agreed to negotiate about Kashmir.
But lately there has been concern that Islamabad has not stuck to its pledge to crack down on militant bases and halt incursions into Indian soil.
In another development, Manmohan Singh urged business and political leaders yesterday to make sure the 21st century is hailed as the “Asian century” by working with regional counterparts to create an economic community of nations.
He said such a community could widen and deepen India’s trade relations with China, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
“We seek ... to work closely with Asia to realize our combined aspiration to make the 21st century an Asian century,” Manmohan said.
Manmohan didn’t mention the bitter friction between India and its neighboring rival, Pakistan, but said the South Asian subcontinent needs peace to become part of an economic hub.
“We want a neighborhood of peace and shared prosperity in which people, goods and services can travel with ease across borders,” he said at the two-day conference, which started yesterday.
Manmohan became prime minister in May after his Congress party and its allies won a surprise victory in national elections.
Since Manmohan has taken office, the Congress-led coalition government’s efforts to open up India’s economy and sell off loss-making, state-run companies have been stymied by the coalition’s communist allies.
However, Manmohan promised that the government would give “top priority” to speeding up economic growth and ensuring a more equitable distribution of wealth.
The Congress party’s recent victory was largely attributed to resentment against the previous government’s economic policies — many voters felt they benefited the urban rich and neglected the country’s majority of farmers and rural poor.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said India’s aspirations of becoming an economic superpower would be unobtainable if a large chunk of its population remained steeped in poverty.
Around a quarter of India’s more than one billion people are estimated to live on less than a dollar a day.
“Growth must be inclusive. You can’t have one India that is growing and becoming part of the developed world, while another languishes in poverty,” Chidambaram said.
— Additional input from agencies
