KARACHI: It is for the first time in the Indo-Pak history that a sitting Indian sitting Prime Minister had all praise for the Pakistani counterpart by terming him 'the man of peace', said Indian parliamentarian Mani Shankar Aiyar here on Saturday.
"It is a historic moment for people of both the countries that our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh praised your Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani for his efforts to bridge the gap between us," he was talking to newsmen after addressing an international conference on 'The situation in South Asia-Global and Regional Implications' organised here on Saturday by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST).
Referring to the just concluded 17th SAARC summit in Maldives, Shankar said that he has always advocated the need for 'uninterrupted dialogue between the two countries in particular.'
"It is a good omen that leadership from both sides are seeking peace for the people and even your Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar advocated the same cause," he said while replying to various queries.
He said it was an open message to the 'Non-State Elements' that they have been exposed and could not hinder the current peace process underway between Pakistan and India.
"We need to achieve the peace agenda at the earliest" he maintained.
Shankar was of the view that Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status should have been granted much earlier.
He said that instead of trade between Pakistan and India via Dubai, it would be much better to have direct commercial links between our two countries.
"It would have been much better that we had direct trade links instead of the third country".
Earlier the conference was also addressed by former Foreign Secretary, Najamuddin Shaikh, Defense analyst Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa, economist Dr. Kaiser Bengali and scholars from Canada and France.
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011
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