LAHORE, May 24: Former Indian diplomat and cabinet minister Mani Shankar Aiyar says India needs to solve its problems with Pakistan in order to emerge as a world power.

Speaking at a talk entitled ‘Pakistan-India Peace: Can It Happen?’ held at FC College here on Thursday, he argued that India would never get the coveted seat in the UN Security Council unless its major issues with Pakistan were resolved.

He also stressed that New Delhi needed good relations with Islamabad because India had 150 million Muslims living in the country. “Are they all Pakistanis?” he asked. “Of course not,” Mr Aiyar retorted, “They are fully Indian, but because of them India needs to develop good relations with a neighbouring Muslim country.”

Calling the two countries “siamese twins”, he said the best way for better relations was to “keep talking.”

He suggested that maybe both countries should set up a meeting table across the line at Wagah border so that no-one would have to leave their respective countries and stances.

He said a proper process of continuous talks would inevitably improve relations.

Similarly, Mr Aiyar said, Pakistan needed to emerge from its “we are not Indian” mentality and develop into a self-assured country. “Pakistan should stop being a frontline state for other countries, and look after its own interests.”

Fight against terrorism plaguing both countries is another factor which he thought is an important reason for the two neighbours to come together.

“Pakistan has suffered from terrorism more than any other country,” Mr Aiyar commented, and so “it needs India as an ally to counter it, just as India needs Pakistan.”

Answering questions, he said both countries needed to move beyond the issues of the past. As 90 per cent of population in both countries was born after 1947, and so both states should leave the baggage of the past and look towards the future, he said.

Dr James Tebbe, vice rector for academic affairs, thanked Mr Aiyar for his forward-looking talk, and said he was perhaps the best marriage counsellor too in emphasising that both countries need to talk, talk and talk.