ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: Pakistan wants friendly ties with India and the intelligentsia in both countries should work to change mindset in both countries, says Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir.

Speaking at an international conference on ‘Pakistan-India Peace Process: A Way Forward’, Mr Bashir said impediments to friendly relations could be overcome. The two countries “have a good understanding and the composite dialogue must be sustainable and it should not be held hostage to other factors,” he said.

The two-day conference has been organised by Islamabad Policy Research Institute in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

Scholars and experts from a number of countries discussed legal, socio-economic, human, environmental and geo-strategic aspects of various issues, including Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek and Wullar barrage and suggested measures for their resolution.

President of IPRI Dr Pervez Iqbal Cheema said that the composite dialogue was continuing despite constraints and had survived a number of shocks, even change of governments in both countries. The dialogue enjoyed the support of the international community.

Dr Radha Kumar, director of the Mandel Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution of Jamia Millia, New Delhi, spoke on socio-economic and human implications of the Sir Creek issue. She said that fishermen of both countries had been suffering although it was the easiest of disputes to resolve and its settlement would not entail any human sufferings. “We can derive economic success for the poor fisheries communities of this disputed area.”

Dr Ram Upendra Das of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, New Delhi, stressed the need for using trade as a tool for promoting peace.

Ahmer Bilal Soofi, president of the Research Society of International Law of Pakistan, said that Sir Creek dispute was a legal and technical dispute from the perspective of international law. He said that not much attention had been paid to the legal aspects during the composite dialogue. The dispute arose between the rulers of Sindh and Kutch in 1875 and the issue became relevant after the adoption of the 1982 UN Convention on Law of the Sea (Article 15) to demarcate the maritime boundary to determine the use of exclusive economic zones. He said that options were available under the UN Charter, bilateral, regional, and peace initiatives to resolve the Sir Creek dispute.

Former additional secretary of foreign affairs Tariq Osman Haider stressed the need for nuclear CBMs.

Director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi, General (retd) Dipankar Banerjee spoke on the Siachen issue and its socio-economic implications.

Senator Nisar Memon and Dr Hasan Askeri-Rizvi also addressed the conference.

Discussing the Wullar barrage issue, the speakers said it was a matter of life and death for Pakistan because the barrage would affect the flow of Jhelum River.