Thursday, February 17 2005 14:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Lahore: Observing that India is committed to peace and friendship with Pakistan, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh today (Feb 17, 2005) said that the two sides would be in a position to tackle some of the more "complex" issues that plague their relations once suspicions and misapprehensions were set aside.

"India sincerely seeks a cooperative and constructive relationship with Pakistan. For this, it is imperative for us to invest on the ongoing process of engagement and confidence building," Singh said at a reception hosted by the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) in Lahore.

Noting that India has proposed several measures to Pakistan to bridge differences and build greater understanding and mutual trust, he said, "Once we are able to set aside our suspicions and misapprehensions, through a continuous and persistent process of confidence building, I am sure that we would be in a position to tackle some of the more complex issues that plague our relations."

He said that confidence building measures (CBM) would help create an atmosphere conducive to addressing more difficult issues and help fulfil the promise of friendship and cooperation between India and Pakistan.

Singh, who came to Lahore a day after the two countries made major announcements of starting bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad and others measures to improve ties, was mobbed by media in Lahore but he declined to respond to questions.

He also met several of his friends in Lahore.

Observing there are infinite possibilities of a cooperative Indo-Pak relationship, Singh said, "If we combine our efforts on issues, our goals would be well within our grasp."

He said that a combined India-Pakistan cricket team would be unbeatable.

Emphasising that the two countries need to build mutual trust, he said, "We need the cementing force to cooperative trade and economic links, based on obvious complementaries that exist."

Both President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz underlined this aspect during talks when he met them.

"India is committed to peace and friendship with Pakistan. Not just words. We have worked actively to put them into practice," he said.

He said that the two sides have agreed to consider an energy corridor through Pakistan subject to satisfaction to India's concern related to security and assured supply.

"We will commence the bus service between Amritsar and Lahore and to religious places like Nankana Sahib," Singh said.

He said that the Pakistan Government had agreed to work with India for an early operationalisation of the Khokrapar-Munnabao rail link.

Singh said that all decisions have followed upon the significant progress made over the past year through normalisation of diplomatic and other links.

All this progress, he said, has been possible because of the overwhelming desire among people of the two countries for peaceful interaction.

"We need to build further on these foundations," he said adding, "There was tremendous reservoir of goodwill on both sides, based on their affinities and commonalities."

Greater people-to-people contact would open the doors for a better appreciation of each others viewpoint, he said stressing, "Our conscious policy has been to be people-centric and to promote people-to-people exchanges."

As a measure of sincerity and goodwill, India has unilaterally liberalised the visa regime for Pakistani nationals to travel to that country, including a system of visa-on-arrival for certain select categories, Singh said. New Delhi, he said, looked forward to group tours very soon and was already implementing a special visa regime for Pakistani students to study in Indian educational institutions.

Emphasising that this was the time to let the people set the pace for a while, he said the two Governments, which are appearing somewhat more cautious and conservative, could also play a facilitating role for the natural affinities of the people to define new parameters in the relationship.

Observing that while India-Pakistan trade has grown slowly, he said, India's trade with other South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries has grown substantially.

"Unfortunately, Pakistan's position as a link between the energy resources in central and west Asia and growing demand in South Asia has not been leveraged in the long term arrangement to mutual benefit," he said.

Singh said India attaches great importance to economic and commercial cooperation with Pakistan.

"We believe that this would help address the common challenges of poverty and imbalance in the development of the region and lead to prosperity among our people," he said.

Singh said a high-level study group has been set up to examine the potential areas of cooperation. This group would have its first meeting on February 22-23 and "we are confident that we would be able to identify special areas of convergence without any difficulty".