It is now 63 years since self-determination, so what have these countries achieved away from unhelpful wars within them and against each other and a standard of living that is by any quantify about the worst in the globe with the exception of certain ruined regions of Africa.
Play with thy neighbor Indo-Pak Cricket Series:
(Puniyani, 2012), surely to commence with both the countries not only require to restore the cricket but also take the steps in improving and upgrading ties in the area of trade, health and education. There is also an awful need to loosen the rigidity of VISA rule, which is oppressive, the joint visits of civilians. Today, this desire for bilateral affairs and peace is finding a emergent articulation in the civil society in Pakistan as well. Pakistan army, with its own vested interests is reluctant to such measures of peace, but our hope and wish has to be a muscular democracy in Pakistan, which will surely be looking forward to amplification the bonds of peace between the two countries. It is also reminds us as to how far can both these countries are inflating their resistance budget, year after the time, projecting the warning of the 'bordering enemy'. This inflated defense financial plan is at the cost of the basic needs of social welfare, which are the terrible needs in both the countries.
Beyond the Boundaries:
(Mittal, 2011), an average Indian and a Pakistani have the same secret desire to cross the border, at least once. They want to see what people eat, how they talk, how they look and how they think on the "other" side. And if it is to be believed what those lucky people who have visited says, they will be highly 'disappointed' because it is just the same there. We share a common history, a common language, a common culture and even a common desire. This desire is found in the talks of average Indians and Pakistanis
Aman ki Asha
Mission:
To reach out and pluck the low-hanging fruit in the beginning before we aim higher. Issues of trade and commerce, of investments, of financial infrastructure, of cultural exchanges, of religious and medical tourism, of free movement of ideas, of visa regimes, of sporting ties, of connectivity, of reviving existing routes, of market access, of separated families, of the plight of prisoners, will be part of our initial agenda. Through debates, discussions and the telling of stories we will find commonalities and space, for compromise and adjustment, on matters that have bedeviled relations for over 60 years.
Description:
The Times of India Group and the Jang Group of Pakistan came together on Jan 1, 2010 to energize the process of peace between our two countries. We believe that this is an intervention whose time has come. We recognize that setbacks will occur but these should not derail the process.
We need to get rid of this fear and that can only be possible with regular interaction and other activities like holding more cricket matches," Abbas Hashmi, Pakistan Cricket Association for Physically Handicapped chairman, said.
Team manager Nasir Mehmood said the players had special abilities and would exhibit them in their matches with the Indian team. "The boys have been given extensive training and hopefully they will win matches this time," he said.
Team captain Mohammad Fayaz said his team would try its best to level the series with India. "We are here to level the series and we will do it.
Our performance will be better this time," said Fayaz. Aman ki Asha is a campaign for promoting peace between India and Pakistan and is a joint initiative of The Times of India Group and the Jang Group of Pakistan.
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan says when his party wins power his top priority would be to start a dialogue with India to resolve the Kashmir issue. The former cricket ace is seen as a strong prime ministerial candidate in the next polls and his party is on the upswing. He envisages India and Pakistan having trade ties like those shared by the US and Canada. "I believe nothing is impossible." Khan was the star speaker at the concluding day of the 2nd Aman ki Asha Indo-Pak economic conference on Tuesday.
Imran cut a striking figure in a white Pathan suit and said among all Pakistani politicians, he knows India best because of his cricketing past. "Indo-Pak relations should be based on trust. It is awful that whenever we get close, some incident happens and we are back to square one. New governments can foster new ties. We need strong leadership in both nations which can withstand strong pressure. There's a small industry on both sides that benefit from ill will. We need a strong leadership in Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue." He cited the leadership of Charles de Gaulle in France, who stood up to pressures and resolved the Algerian crisis by giving the latter independence.
While peace between India and Pakistan seems so elusive, he said he was privy to information (three former Pakistan foreign ministers have joined his party) that shows the two countries came tantalizingly close to clinching a solution to the contentious Kashmir issue before negotiations collapsed.
"The new generation of Indians and Pakistanis want new relations. They want to change the way we look at each other. Seventy per cent of Pakistanis are less than 30 and they want a new way of governance," he said.
Entirely supportive of enhanced trade relations, he cautioned that the benefits of trade in the short terms should be evenly shared. "Long term, we know that it benefits everybody," he said. The future should see intense rivalry between India and Pakistan "to see who reduces poverty faster," he said before quipping: "How can we not enjoy the rivalry of India and Pakistan in a cricket match?"
Later, taking a question from CII president Adi Godrej, who quizzed him on the possibility of the neighbors emerging as each other's largest trading partners, he said: "One thing we know for sure, it is the best way to alleviate poverty. With a combined population of 1.6 billion, it's such a huge market. There will be early adjustments and trade will force us to improve our governance systems, it will lead to reforms." He cited the example of EU saying: "Every country that joined EU has seen its standard of living rise."
Later taking questions from the audience, he refuted allegations that he was hobnobbing with fringe groups and religious parties. Imran insisted that as a political party, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf has to engage with everybody, even the seemingly radicalized entities. "Engagement does not mean endorsement. I believe we have to engage with every strata of society. If we bring people into the mainstream then we de-radicalize them."
ELABORATION
The Peace Procedure:
Since 1947 Indo-Pak Relations have been under the shadows of suspicions, misunderstanding, disappointment, tensions and wars. Both states never succeeded to win the mutual trust of each other because of their unresolved disputes and lack of cooperation between them. It is highly expected from the elected Government of Pakistan (2008) that the resumption of the dialogue process between Pakistan and India will provide new opportunity for both countries to resolve their all long standing disputes and it will create an atmosphere in which both states can improve their bilateral relations. But for this purpose, both countries have to overcome their short-sighted plans and they have to reconsider their policies towards each other. The hostility between Pakistan and India is the main hurdle in the progress of the people of these countries. Both countries should overcome their political differences and should work together to reduce poverty from the region and to raise the living standards of the people.
Both Pakistan and India have nuclear status and in this scenario the need of peace process between them is much more important than ever before .Now perhaps war is not a good option for them because any kind of a conventional armed conflict can change into a nuclear war. So in this situation Pakistan and India should put the option of war for the settlement of their disputes out of the equation. The peace process between Pakistan and India should be based on development of the trust on each other, mutual gain and to develop an atmosphere of peace and progress where both countries can resolve their disputes through composite dialogues. The improvement of Indo-Pak relations need some changes in the attitudes of both countries for example India is the largest state in the region and India's desire is to become the hegemonic
CURRENT TRADE ISSUES
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India signed here on Friday three technical agreements and discussed trade in gas and electricity.
The agreements on redressed of trade grievances, mutual recognition and customs cooperation will facilitate bilateral business mechanism and ease issues relating to certification, licensing, lab testing, etc.
The two sides agreed to a number of specific steps and timelines for implementing the agreements.
They agreed to reduce the number of items to 100 in the sensitive list before the end of 2017 under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (Safta) on a reciprocal basis.
Another agreement between the Export Inspection Council of India and Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority will also be signed soon.
Indian Commerce Secretary S.R. Rao said the agreements would be implemented in litter and spirit.
"We will identify barriers restricting our exports to India for their removal," Pakistan's Commerce Secretary Munir Qureshi said.
Pakistan agreed to lift a restriction on trade through the Wagah-Attari land route for all commodities by the end of October this year. At present trade of only 137 items is allowed through the route.
Working groups of the two countries will meet next month to explore the possibility of opening the Munabao-Khokhrapar land route for trade.
India agreed to bring down the number of items in its sensitive list by 30 per cent before December this year keeping in view Pakistan's export interests.
As agreed earlier, Pakistan will complete the transition of most-favored nation (non-discriminatory) status for India by the end of this year. After that India will bring down its Safta sensitive list to 100 tariff lines by April next year.
The items placed in the sensitive list are allowed for trade, but these attract much higher customs duties and reduce their trading margin.
As India will notify the reduced sensitive list, Pakistan will reduce its sensitive list to 100 items over the next five years.
Before the end of 2020, the peak tariff rate for all tariff lines, except for a small number of products in the sensitive lists, will not be more than five per cent. It will be an ultimate goal for achieving complete liberalization process between the two countries.
BANK BRANCHES:
The Indian commerce secretary said the names of banks willing to open branches in each other's country would be exchanged in the next couple of months. But, he said, the State Bank of Pakistan and the Reserves Bank of India would look into modalities and put in place a mechanism for opening the branches.
About export of electricity, Mr. Rao said an understanding had been reached to use the available infrastructure as a short-term measure to transfer limited electricity. It would be used for both ways, he added.
India offered Pakistan 500MW of electricity, but Mr. Rao said the infrastructure required to transmit it would take time to be put in place.
India also offered to export up to five million cubic meters per day of gas for an initial period of five years.
The Pakistani side said it had received the offer and was considering it.
Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd, an Indian public sector company, made an offer to cooperate with the Pakistan government in setting up of 500-2000MW coal/hydro or gas power plants.
India expressed its willingness to cooperate with Pakistan in areas of wind and solar energy and offered to help Pakistan Railways in meeting its requirements of up to 100 locomotives.
A demand was made to allow high capacity wagons for trade from Pakistan which carry load three times more than regular wagons. For this and other issues, railway ministries of the two countries will meet on a monthly basis to work out measures for increasing trade through train.
The two sides agreed to simplify procedures and encourage investment. Outreach programmers will be held with business communities on both sides on investment opportunities, application procedures and regulatory issues. A joint working group will be constituted before Nov 15 to work out a liberalized regime of reciprocal bilateral rights for commercial flights between Delhi and Islamabad.
RELATIONSHIP STATUS
Relations between India and Pakistan have never been good since the both countries got Independence from the British. The primary reason for bad relations is a disputed territory called Kashmir, which both the countries claim.
it was decided in United Nations that Kashmir people would be given a right to self determine that which country they want to join, however India never fulfilled this promise it made in the UN. This caused three wars between the both countries.
Another reason is Indian mentality of supremacy in south Asia which doesn't let her treat other countries as equal states; rather it oppresses them and push wars through its proxies.
Current relations are not very good because of the Mumbai carnage that took place in last year. India blamed Pakistan for the carnage but Pakistan denied and claimed that it is the result of Indian oppressive rule on Kashmir people who want freedom. After that India started talking about strikes on Pakistan, with Pakistan preparing its army for a response. However due to pressure from world powers, this war attitude has somewhat cooled down.
