Sunday, May 29 2005 20:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Hoping that India and Pakistan would leave the past hostilities, the leader of Opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L K Advani, who embarks on a week's visit to that country tomorrow (May 30, 2005), said the atmosphere between the two neighbours today is that of creating a "new future".

The trip, on an invitation from Pakistan Government, is in continuation to the bold and historic initiative started by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to seek lasting peace, Advani, who would meet President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri during the visit, said in a statement today (May 29, 2005).

"I am happy to note that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Government have continued to carry forward this agenda of peace through dialogue," he said.

Referring to the joint statement issued in Islamabad on January 6, 2004 after talks between the then Prime Minister Vajpayee and Musharraf, as a "major breakthrough", he said it brought about a radical change in bilateral relations.

Credit must also be given for valuable contributions made by parliamentarians and functionaries of various parties on both sides, as well as by civil society representatives as media persons, businessmen, lawyers, artists and cultural personalities, he added.

"All this has created an atmosphere of hope that our two countries will be able to leave behind hostility of the past six decades and create a new future of peaceful, friendly and cooperative relations, befitting two sovereign nations that are more than neighbours connected by a border," Advani said.