Karachi: The leader of the visiting Indian Parliamentarians' goodwill delegation has called upon the media to play a proactive role against those elements who were opposed to normalisation of relations between Pakistan and India.

Speaking on June 24 at a "Meet the Press" programme of the Karachi Press Club (KPC), Kuldip Nayar, an eminent journalist and member of the Rajya Sabha, emphasised the need for banishing mutual hatred and mobilising opinion against those who were against peace and amity.

Nayar was of the view that perhaps this mistrust and hatred was due to a wrong interpretation of history in the textbooks and called upon Pakistanis to take corrective measures in this regard.

He also called for abolishing the visa system to facilitate people in both the countries to meet each other freely. "Both the countries should do away with the perpetual atmosphere of animosity and hatred and start a new chapter of peace and harmony, and doing away with the visa restriction would be the first major step towards realisation of this objective," 'Dawn' daily quoted Nayar as saying.

He said the two countries had wasted their energies on wars and arms build-up during the last 55 years, adding to the misery and poverty of the people. He emphasised that it was time that both the countries gave peace a chance.

Responding to remarks by KPC president Sabihuddin Ghausi, Nayar said it was wrong to presume that Indians were against the stability of Pakistan.

Appreciating the peace gestures of the Prime Ministers of the two countries, he said now it was up to the media to frustrate efforts by elements opposed to peace.

He called for an immediate end to Muslim-Hindu rhetoric and underlined the need for addressing the real issues of the two peoples, i.e., poverty, hunger and disease.

He said the riots in Gujarat, which had claimed thousands of innocent lives were deplorable. "We have a composite culture in India and incidents like demolition of the Babri mosque and incidents like this damaged this culture besides undermining the credibility of the country."

Earlier, Sabihuddin Ghausi in his welcome address said the last 55 years of both countries were replete with hatred. He underscored the need to improve people-to-people contact between Pakistan and India.

Nayar was conferred life membership of the KPC. Other members of the delegation were Shahid Siddiqui, Kartar Singh Dogar, P Bansal, Ramdas Athawale, Abdul Rasheed Shaheen, and K M Khan.

Later, speaking at a reception hosted by the Jamaat-i-Islami, Nayar reiterated the need to take advantage of another opportunity by initiating a meaningful dialogue between the two countries to solve all contentious issues, including Kashmir.

He pointed out that in the aftermath of Iraq's fate, it had become all the more necessary to think over the attitude of other powers wanting to come into in the region. After Iraq, their next target could be Syria, Iran or any other country.

"We are responsible countries. Is it not possible to join hands from Afghanistan to Burma and make a strong bloc? Once we resolve our issues and join hands, we will be in a position to help Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East," Nayar added.

"We have our identity, which we can call South Asia where, keeping our entity, we can turn into an economic region having mutual trade."

Senator Prof Ghafoor Ahmad said people of Pakistan wanted good neighbourly relations. He expressed the need for exchange of visits by Parliamentarians and politicians who were aware of the issues and could help resolve them.

Prof Ghafoor said people of Pakistan and India were for friendship and once they become friends, the losses suffered during enmity of the last 56 years could be overcome within two years.

Karachi Nazim Naimatullah Khan said if the people of Pakistan, India and Kashmir came to the negotiating table, all issues could be resolved.

ANI