Silicon Valley (US): Though peace initiatives between India and Pakistan have tended to fall by the wayside, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's decision to attend the forthcoming South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) summit in Islamabad offered a new hope for movement towards peace in South Asia, Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani Prime Minister, has said.

Addressing a press conference in San Jose yesterday (November 18), Bhutto said that peace between the two countries was too important an objective and should not be given up, adding "I am very happy to see that there is still another hope that is looming on the horizon with the forthcoming SAARC conference."

"I believe Prime Minister Vajpayee is planning to attend that conference in Islamabad and I hope the leaders of India and Pakistan will be able to move forward and will be able to realise that 55 years of conflict has given both India and Pakistan and the billion people in South Asia the threat of a possible nuclear holocaust," she said.

That was a scenario too horrible to envisage, she added.

Bhutto said that ever since the two neighbours detonated nuclear devices in 1998, her party had been calling upon them to give up the idea of conflict and "to agree to disagree on Jammu and Kashmir, but to try and build confidence by taking incremental measures."

The peace journey might be a long one, but each long journey began with one small step, said Bhutto, before addressing the 13th Annual Professional Women's Luncheon organised by YWCA.

"I hope in the New Year in January, when Prime Minister Vajpayee meets with Pakistan's military ruler, that they are able to take one small step on the journey to peace. If they manage to do that, it will be one of the most important steps the two countries have take."

PTI