Indian Premier Narendra Modi (L) shakes hands with his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif prior to a meeting in New Delhi, India, on May 27.
Internews/Lahore
The business community is expecting a positive breakthrough in economic development and peace creation out of the visit of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to India.
Yesterday, business leaders said the two countries must turn this meeting to an opportunity to normalise bilateral relations.
They said the visit will be beneficial if the prime minister succeeds in bringing his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to Pakistan.
Mian Idrees, chief executive officer of Sitara Chemical - a leading chemical exporter to India - believed the visit is a good political move, which may lead to improvised bilateral relations between the two countries.
The invitation of Modi’s government shows that India wants peaceful and better relations with Pakistan for economic betterment, he asserted.
However, he went on to say that successive Indian governments presented Pakistan as a villain to win the election and it was done by the Modi’s as well. But this will not affect in the future relationship, Idrees opined. He said bilateral relations were improved in Vajpayee’s government.
Trade with India will increase if it will play fairly. And, “This time, India will play fairly,” he said. He said that relations would improve only on equality basis as both countries are atomic power and no one would be ready to compromise on their interest.
Mian Kashif, chief executive officer of ChenOne, believed that Indian prime minister’s invitation was a formality and Nawaz Sharif had posed a good gesture by attending his swearing-in ceremony.
One thing could not be ignored that bilateral relations between the two countries were improved when BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Pakistan.
Kashif believed that had the BJP followed Vajpayee’s policy, positive breakthrough could have been possible.
He went on say that normalisation in the region was a win-win situation for both the countries. India is eyeing central Asian states, while a big Indian consumer market will open for Pakistani producers.
It will also create an opportunity for Pakistan to learn from Indian experiences as Indians are far ahead than Pakistan in information technology and engineering, while Pakistan is progressing in infrastructure development, he remarked.
Agha Saidian, a leading tanner of Pakistan, said that both the states had shown responsibility. However, it is important to make public the agenda of the meeting.
Saidian said India has shown respect to Pakistan.
Modi is a different politician, he said, expecting solutions to issues. He said dialogues start when the two parties start meeting with each other.
He believed that Modi must have asked Sharif for Most Favoured Nation status in the maiden meeting and made him agree for it.
Pakistan’s premier should ask India to first remove non-tariff barriers facing Pakistan’s exports and move forward on equality basis.