Indo-Pak tensions hold back the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) from taking up greater regional integration and connectivity, said Abdul Basit, Pakistan High Commissioner to India.
“South Asia, economically speaking, is the least integrated region in the world. It is primarily India-Pakistan relations which do not allow SAARC region to realise its potential,” Mr. Basit said, while addressing students at the Pakistan High Commission as part of the Youth Forum on Foreign Policy (YFFP) – Embassy dialogue series. The talk was held even as India and Pakistan relations have reached the lowest in several years with recent cancellation of NSA level talks and continued ceasefire violations on the border.
Both the nations need to resolve the fundamental issue, which is Jammu & Kashmir. If resolved all other issues become peripheral, he said. Talking about Hurriyat conference, he said whatever India and Pakistan decide through dialogue should be acceptable to the people of Kashmir and for that they should be a part of the dialogue.
Stating that there is a lack of understanding of Pakistan in India, he said there is a general feeling that Pakistan is a failed state.
“I am not saying there that we do not have problems. We are doing fine,” he added.