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vol ii no 136 32 Pages islamabad — Peshawar edition
Friday, 11 november, 2011 zul-Haj 14, 1432
Gilani, Singh agree to write a new chapter in history g
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Indian pM calls his pakistani counterpart ‘a man of peace’ Gilani says all core issues discussed, looks forward to more productive talks ADDU
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RAnA QAISAR
IvING hope to their people, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh, who met on the shores of the Indian Ocean against the picturesque Maldivian backdrop on Thursday, promised to write a new chapter in the history of their countries with a pledge to make the next round of talks even more productive. The decision to take the bilateral engagement to a new level came in the third meeting between the two prime ministers in the last 18 months after their talks at the 2010 SAARC summit in Thimphu when they had decided to resume bilateral dialogue. Though they did not make any major announcement, Gilani and Singh opted to speak briefly without taking any questions from journalists. However, the unanimity of views was evident from the common expression they, first Gilani and then Singh, used in their respective statements. “Our next round of talks will be more productive and we will open a new chapter in the history of our countries,” Prime Minister Gilani said after his one-hour one-onone meeting with Prime Minister Singh, who also appeared equally optimistic as he called his counterpart “a man of peace” and said: “The destiny of our peoples is closely linked … we have wasted a lot of time in acrimonious debate … now a new chapter (in the history of both countries) will be written … we have agreed to discuss all issues which bedevilled our relations.” Gilani said they reviewed the process of dialogue. “We are moving in a positive direction … we openly discussed all core issues,” he said, specifically mentioning the issues of Kashmir, water, terrorism, Siachen and Sir Creek. He said the foreign and interior ministers of both countries and secretaries of defence had already been involved in discussions to resolve the issues. The commerce secretaries are also scheduled to meet next week. As the two leaders hoped that the next round of dialogue would be more productive and constructive, Pakistan gave an assurance that it would send a judicial commission to India soon and the interior secretaries of Pakistan and India would discuss terrorism and security-related issues in New Delhi in December. Following Pakistani cabinet’s endorsement of granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, it is expected that both the countries would now work towards a preferential trade agreement (PTA). The PTA between the two countries, under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), if finalised, would lead to zero Customs duty on all traded goods by 2016. The SAFTA is an agreement reached in the 2004 SAARC summit in Islamabad which created a free trade area of over 1.8 billion people in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Both sides have already agreed that the joint commission, which held its last meeting in 2005, would be revived, visa liberalisation agreement would be signed at the earliest and the process to implement cross-Kashmir trade and travel would be put in the fast-track. Pakistani Foreign Minster Hina Rabbani Khar said the next round of talks would begin by the end of this month. “The process of trade normalisation will be taken to its logical conclusion and we would also move toward a preferential trade agreement with Pakistan... continued on Page 04
ADDU: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before a meeting on the sidelines of the 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting on Thursday. afp
SaaRC summit opens with hopes to make a difference
‘Rules violated for purchase of 75 locomotives’
Gilani tells SaaRC members South asia has potential to become engine for global economic growth g Singh pledges to promote fair trade in region
MASooD RehMAn
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ADDU STAff RePoRT
As the two-day 17th SAARC Summit opened on Thursday with heads of state and government attending the inaugural session at the Equatorial Convention Centre, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said terrorism, in all its form and manifestation, presented an enormous challenge to the region and the world. “Pakistan supports efforts under SAARC at enhancing cooperation to eliminate this menace,” the prime minister said in his address. The opening of the summit was carried out by the chairman of the 16th SAARC Summit and Prime Minister of Bhutan, Lynchhen Jigmi Yoezer Thinley. President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed assumed the chair of the 17th SAARC Summit and addressed the gathering after the adoption of the agenda. The inaugural session was also addressed by the heads of states and governments of the SAARC countries – Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and India. Gilani said Pakistan attached great importance to SAARC. “Our association has come to epitomise the hopes and aspirations of the peoples of our region for peace, progress and prosperity,” he said, adding that South Asia had the potential to become an important engine for global economic growth, as it had all the necessary ingredients in terms of human and natural resources to work the economic miracle of this century. “Time has come for SAARC to lead the way in a historic transformation of our region by utilising its vast capabilities and build on the sure foundations of great civilisational heritage of the peoples of this region.” He said the theme “Building Bridges” reflected the common desire for promoting mutual understanding and reaching out to each other to create win-win scenarios, as it also resonated with SAARC’s avowed goal to enhance “Intra-regional connectivity” by 2020. Gilani stressed the need for building on inherent strengths and effectively addressing common issues such as socio-eco-
nomic disparities, poverty alleviation, food security, energy security, women’s empowerment, health and education. He welcomed the establishment of SAARC development fund as an achievement and said this fund must be enabled to lead a region-wide developmental effort. He said the economic development of South Asia was closely linked to the availability of energy at affordable price. “With abundant alternate energy resources available region wide, we need to collectively focus on harnessing indigenous energy production potential such as solar, wind, bio and hydel. We should also consider arrangements for trans-regional oil and gas pipelines.” Gilani expressed happiness over the concept of SAARC Energy Ring. “The way forward would be to consider regional framework arrangements on energy cooperation,” he said, adding that climate change was another common challenge confronting the SAARC region. “Having suffered from unprecedented floods in past two summers, Pakistan fully understands the urgent and compelling need for concerted and focused attention on this issue by SAARC member states. “Green South Asia” would be a befitting theme for SAARC to pursue.” In his speech, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to promote fair trade in the region. He spoke positively of the progress made in SAARC, terming it as “impressive” and pointed out that many sectors, including trade, transport, health and education have benefited from it. “Our summit is taking place at a time when the West is having an economic crisis. In the meantime developing countries like ours will be squeezed for capital and markets and we should look for innovative solutions within South Asian region,” he said. He urged for this process to continue and admitted that India had a special responsibility to make a trade liberalisation method that would reduce the sensitive list of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement. continued on Page 04
Pakistani camP’s ill-Planned addu rendezvous | Page 04
ISLAMABAD The Pakistan Railways chairman on Thursday told a two-member Supreme Court bench that rules and regulations were violated in the purchase of 75 locomotives, causing huge losses to the national exchequer. The bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan was hearing a suo motu case about the non-payment of salaries and pension to the employees and workers of Pakistan Railways. In compliance with the court’s earlier orders, Railways Chairman Javed Ahmad submitted in court a report containing a plan for the rehabilitation of Pakistan Railways. The report stated that Rs 28 billion were required for rehabilitation of railways. The chief justice noted that the amount suggested by railways top brass for rehabilitation was massive, and a new railways’ department could be established from that amount. During the hearing, the court allowed former railways minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed to become party to the case. Rasheed told the court that rules and regulations were relaxed on the intervention of a top personality of the country for purchase of 75 locomotives. To a court query, the railways chairman admitted that the rules and regulations were violated. continued on Page 04