S. Asian media hail Indo-Pakistani talks

S. Asian media hail Indo-Pakistani talks

MALE, Maldives (Reuter): South Asian newspapers praised India
and Pakistan yesterday for taking a step toward normalizing
strained relations, saying the whole region would benefit.

The papers highlighted progress at talks between Indian Prime
Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz
Sharif, held on the margins of the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in the Maldives capital,
Male.

The three-day summit ended Wednesday with a pledge by the
leaders of the seven member states to speed up the creation of a
free trade zone and initiate political discussions in the bloc.

The newspapers' focus on India and Pakistan was a reminder of
the impact their uneasy relations have had on economic
cooperation between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Intra-regional trade represents only three percent of the
countries' total global commerce, and official trade between the
two largest countries, Pakistan and India is under US$500 million
a year, according to diplomats.

"That the prime ministers of two large neighboring countries
with a baggage of hostilities are optimistically looking forward
to closing the gap between them should definitely be seen as the
first sign of thawing the ice," Bangladesh's Daily Star said.

The Times of India said: "Male showed that despite strong and
conflicting domestic pressures, and gentle international ones, it
is possible to talk, and talk positively ... The outcome was
better than what was generally expected."

The Karachi-based Business Recorder said it was not the first
time Indian and Pakistani leaders had tried to reduce tensions.

"But it is, perhaps, the first time that it has been attempted
in as cordial an atmosphere as that prevailing at present and
with as much commitment as is evident in Male."

It said cutting defense spending was not a realistic option at
present, but if tension could be reduced, it would "no doubt
release considerable resources for development purposes".

The Sri Lanka press blamed the Western media for considering
the India-Pakistan "side show" to be more important than the
summit itself.

"It is good news if India and Pakistan have got down to fence-
mending in earnest. Still, the importance of the SAARC process
couldn't be reduced to the mere monitoring of the vicissitudes of
a bilateral relationship, however significant it may be," the
state-owned Daily News said in an editorial.