‘CPEC to Propel Pakistan’s Economic Take-off; India Should Join’ ORF Chief Speaks at PILDAT Panel Discussion

– Right) Mr. Saleem Safi,

the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Project could usher in a new era

for prosperity and change in the face of South Asia.  Mr. Sudheendra

Kulkarni, Chairman, Observer Research Foundation, India,

shared these views at the panel discussion on Pakistan-India Peace

Process and the Sharing of Experiences on Governance and Democracy hosted

by PILDAT in Islamabad on February 16. Mr. Kulkarni was joined

by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman, Senate Standing

Committee on Defence, Pakistan Mr. Riaz Hussain Khokhar,

Former Foreign Secretary, Pakistanand Mr. Saleem Safi, Television

Anchor & Senior Columnist, Geo TV, Pakistan; in discussing the current

CPEC as an economic miracle, one whose dividends would multiply if India were

also to participate in the venture. Infrastructure connecting the CPEC to

the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Project across Northern India

could transform the face of the region and usher in a new era of economic

cooperation. However, he said that China and Pakistan needed to address Indian

the 1947 Partition, both countries needed to renew efforts to normalize bi-lateral

ties and evaluate their positions by putting themselves in the other country’s

shoes. In the context of Kashmir, while India had focused on the issue of

terrorism, Pakistan had always stressed upon Kashmir as a political issue.

He impressed upon the audience the importance of thinking anew on the problems

that had strained Pakistan-India ties in the past, saying that good statesmanship

in both countries would depend upon the ability to set aside older grudges.

He spoke of many of the initiatives that he had been apart of, chief among

which was the campaign that he steered in India called the“Kuch

the theme, spoke about how the idea of a multilateral cooperative framework

or a confederation was a pipe dream: Pakistan and India needed to engage on

a bi-lateral level before any regional endeavor could be attempted. He also

proposed that both nations needed to open the doors for back-channel diplomacy. 

Speaking on the issue of Kashmir, he said that the people of Kashmir had spoken:

the uprising after July 2016 was in fact a de facto plebiscite. He stressed

on taking forward the recommendations of the report prepared by the commission

led by Mr. Yashwant Sinha, Former Minster of External Affairs, India, on Kashmir

for a meaningful framework for the process of peace building between both

out that the distrust between Pakistan and India currently was at an all time

high. Any sort of regional cooperation attempted with India could not meet

the same fate as the SAARC Conferences, in which the largest member country

had neutralized the multi-lateral forum by boycotting its proceedings. Mr.

Khokhar agreed with Mr. Kulkarni on the fact that there was a need for forward

thinking, however it could not be at the cost of ignoring ground realities

taken a step forward diplomatically by engaging with India in the Heart of

Asia Conferences and other smaller conferences. For India to call into question

Pakistan’s commitment to eradicating terrorism at the time when the

country was suffering heavily and attempting to right past wrongs in using

of the media and civil society including: Senator Lt Gen (Retd) Abdul

Qayyum, PML-N, Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini,

BNP-M, Senator Usman Khan Kakar, PMAP,

Senator Azam Musakhel, PMAP, Ms. Aisha,

MNA, JI, Ms. Amra Khan, MNA, PML-N, Ms.

Aasiya Naz Tanoli, MNA, PML-N, Ms. Shakila Luqman,

MNA, PML-N,  Major General (Retd) Mr. Mahmud Ali Durrani,

Former National Security Advisor, Mr. Ayaz Wazir,

Former Ambassador, Mr. Wazir Jogezai, Former

Deputy Speaker National Assembly, Mr. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi,

Former Ambassador, Mr. Tahir Khalil, Bureau

Chief-Islamabad, Jang, Mr. Amjad Mahmood, DG-Islamabad,

NIM, Dr. Muhammad Faisal, DG (South Asia and SAARC),

MOFA, Mr. Avinash Kumar Singh, Second

Secretary Political, IHC, Lt Gen (Retd) Mr. Talat Masood,

Former Secretary Defence Production, Mr. Afrasiab Khattak,

Former Senator, Mr. Javed Hafeez, Former Ambassador,

Ms. Laura Dix, BHC, Mr. Murtaza Solangi,

Senior Anchor/Director Public Outreach, Capital TV and Mr.

PILDAT in his opening remarks had spoken about how PILDAT since 2004, had

been facilitating Dialogues and other initiatives between Legislators and

Subject-Experts of Pakistan and India at the National and Sub-National level

with the objective to improving bilateral relations. The experiences of these

exchanges confirmed that there existed a tremendous opportunity, need and

requirement to provide avenues for a structured exchange of views and good

practices on areas of governance and democracy between India and Pakistan.

PILDAT was therefore, pleased to continue the exchange through a panel discussion

by a visiting Indian scholar, Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni, Chairman, Observer

several years about Pakistan-India relations, on October 12, 2015, hours before

the launch of Mr. Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s, book “Neither a Hawk,

Nor a Dove: An Insider Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy” Mr.

Kulkarni fell victim to an assault by the activist of the Indian Political

Party Shiv Sena. Despite threats and physical assault, Mr. Kulkarni stood

Chairman, Observer Research Foundation, making his opening remarks about