India, the Defence Minister A K Antony has said, will talk to China and Pakistan to resolve the disputes but will not compromise on the territorial integrity of the country. Speaking at a foundation laying ceremony of the facility to manufacture 155 mm howitzer guns for the army at Gun Carriage Factory in Jabalpur, Antony asserted that nothing will be done to “change the map of India”. Earlier, the defence minister had called for the “vacation by Pakistan of the area (of Kashmir) under its illegal occupation” as part of the settlement of the state. On the other hand, Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar told a select audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington that Islamabad was trying to “build trust” and reversing the “negative narrative” of six decades to resolve the long-pending disputes.  Khar said that Pakistan government has over the last four years worked to reverse a 40 year old trade policy and giving India the Most Favoured Nation status. “We will normalize trade with India because it is important for economic integration and creating an environment of investment in each of these countries,” Khar said. She talked about investing in “building stake holders in each other's future” and starting to look “at ourselves from regional lens and not separate lenses.” At the same time, Khar has underlined the importance of resolving disputes between the two countries but this she said can follow the trust building and outgrowing the negative discourse about each other. What this underscores is that the Indo-Pak are conscious of the complexity of their sundry political disputes and are ready to wait for a conducive time to resolve these. This is an approach that causes unease among a major section of society in Kashmir. For while people in the state look forward to the progress in the relations between the two countries, they also aspire for a real peace in their lives. And this is something both the countries have to make possible for them.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 23 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 23 Sep 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:00:00 IST