Senator Mushahid Hussain on Thursday called for cooperation between India and Pakistan to “create new regionalism” while addressing Pakistan India Parliamentarians’ Dialogue, a fifth in the series of dialogue initiated by PILDAT in 2011.
“Today, a greater South Asia is emerging as a new geo-economic entity which is not limited to SAARC countries but includes China, Myanmar, Iran and Afghanistan,” said, the Senate’s Defence Committee chairman.
“This new regionalism should be knit together by cooperation in economy and energy, railway, roads and pipelines.”
The chairman pointed out that the most important regional challenge is the upcoming US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014 and which would have spill over impact on the region. He stated that it is crucial that India and Pakistan should work together to make bold decisions which may be unpopular yet are necessary.
“We should not repeat the mistakes of the past in future by carrying out proxy wars and revival of a cold war mindset that is detrimental to all regional players.”
He warned that a new cold war in the region would be destabilising for regional cooperation.
Mushahid calls for Pakistan-India cooperation
