Taking a cue from France and Germany, which united to form European Union, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh should also unite to form a South Asian union of countries, says veteran journalist Mark Tully in Agra. He said the unification of these three countries will also help them fight out third-world problems like poverty, illiteracy and hunger from the region. Talking to India Today following the inauguration of a two-day meeting of Saarc country delegates in Agra, Tully said the world is moving towards the end of wars and it is a time for the setting in of new world dynamics where such rivalries like India-Pakistan would be an exception worthy of a quick end. He said that the people of both the countries wanted to reunite and form a single large federation. Raja Hassan Akhtar, Chairman of Regional Standing Committee (FPCCI), Pakistan said the issue of visa between the two countries should be settled quickly so that there could be free trade across the borders and people could move around more easily. The current city-specific visas made it very difficult to conduct business in India and there should be some relaxation for Pakistani businessmen when they wanted to come to India. Expressing similar sentiments, Pakistani author Sooriya Manzar said there is a lot to be done in the direction of restoring common grounds between the people of the two countries and the common culture was already the first step in this direction. She said there should be more and better contact between the people of the two countries. President of the Forlklore Research Academy, the organiser of the event, Ramesh Yadav said the academy is not focusing just on the India-Pakistan relations, but it wishes to bring the entire Saarc group of countries on a single platform where they could combine their might and make the entire world acknowledge that this region is ready to throw off the tag of ‘Third World’. On this occasion, the third “Nirmala Deshpande South East Asia Peace and Justice Award” was presented to Jatin Desai of Mumbai and BM Kutti of Karachi, Pakistan. Sq Ldr (retd) A K Singh, Chairman Dr MPS Group said that it was an honour for the MPS group to host such an honoured delegation of dignitaries in Agra and it was his hope that such cross-border interactions will be more frequently held so that there is a greater degree of cultural exchange between the countries and an atmosphere of trust can be built up. – Dhaka, Oct 19 (UNB)
