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Congratulations towards the new PM, Nawaz Sharif winning the elections in 11th May 2013. Ameen! Maybe it will be a ROARING landslide.
He will have to hit the ground running once in office involving 5 years of LESS POLITICS, and more SOLID ACTION based on strategic efficient and effective government and governance that makes Pakistan successful again. Where GDP growth is not a mere 2% or 3% but higher at 6-8%, which is what India and Bangladesh have been achieving under solid democratic rule.
The PM must know that the Pakistani people are a highly talented people, full of enormous potential....the Pashtuns, the Punjabis, the Sindhis, the Baluchis and the largely educated migrants from India. It is the duty of the PM to RELEASE this enormous energy, for the good of Pakistan and her neighbors, India, China, Afghanistan, and Iran.
With India Pakistan desperately needs an FTA........MFN status awarded to each other in the 1990's and reciprocated more recently is a half way house. FTA is the ultimate goal, the Ras Malai after the lamb Biryani. There will be opposition to this from the Karachi Chamber of Commerce, and the Punjab Chamber of Commerce. These people have their own narrow interests, that does not have a strategic business depth view for the whole of Pakistan....they only think of their little fiefdom.
Example: Did you know that the Germans in 1954, and 1965 offered to build a steel mill at Kalabagh using EU money (Kalabagh contains high quality iron ore, the technology for which only the Germans have for full utilization.....maybe 10-20 billion tons) Can you image the number of ancillary industries around the steel industry that could have been built; the number of jobs created; the solid boost to the GDP; a solid boost to strategic industries. BUT NO--the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and the steel IMPORT association put enormous pressure on Ayub Khan not to go ahead with the FREE self funding project........instead 20 years later the Soviets built a poor quality steel mill near Karachi, which has been a loss making dud ever since its inception ...using imported raw materials.....the sheer stupidity.
The Sheer stupidity of doing the bulk of trade between India and Pakistan via the Gulf......the costs and overheads involved.
What we need is a simple FTA between the two countries immediately...It need not be a convoluted long drawn out affair.......bog standard FTA agreements can be downloaded from the internet....easy....and implemented with 2 years fully. There after the transit trade routes and infrastructure erected at several points in Sindh and the Punjab, and an agreement signed THIS YEAR....whilst everything is still fresh and promising. It will bring enormous kudos to the PM, as a man who is promoting Pakistan's future with effective action, and may guarantee a second term.
AFTER the FTA is safely tucked under the belt the PM MUST FINISH WHAT HE STARTED 14 years ago, gradual incremental peace with India. The first step is to declare the LoC as an international border, that is no longer a point of contention between the two opposing militaries. Again there will be opposition from Kashmiris, religious fundamentalists, but as a legal procedure and as a psychological act it is not that hard to enact. If one thinks about it it is quite simple.
After this is done by both countries, or even Pakistan only for now (the BJP/RSS will oppose it)...then Pakistan can go on to the next step, which is to state that Pakistan no longer seeks the liberation of Indian occupied Kashmir, and recognize that part as a legitimate part of India.
Suddenly the 66 year conflict will come to an end......DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED POLITICIANS ON BOTH SIDE WILL NO LONGER have to worry but this long running tragic, costly saga which have led to 4 wasteful wars. This again will bring enormous prestige to PM Nawaz Sharif, and may guarantee a second term.
That is the reason why Musharaf launched his illegal Kargil misadventure to scupper peace between the two countries (and ensure Nawaz Sharif did not get the enormous prestige)....AND the excuse he used to oust the Democratically elected Sharif, later in the year.
Are you a Muslim? Maybe, but I don't buy arms from the USA, train and visit the USA, take money from the USA, and spend most of my professional career killing mostly innocent, unarmed Pakistani civilians who are Muslim.
Ofcourse FTA's will mean more exchange between people from both countries......priority for businessmen first, and then general civilians later.....visa VISA's.
Gay antics, where no other two countries carry out such stylized hostility.
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Will invite Manmohan Singh to my oath-taking ceremony: Nawaz
TOI and PTI.
LAHORE: PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Monday said he will invite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Pakistan for his oath-taking ceremony as the new prime minister.
Sharif invited Singh to Pakistan on Monday, Express News reported adding that he said he would also invite Singh to his oath-taking ceremony.
Nawaz has already indicated his desire to normalize "rollercoaster" ties with India.
Prime Minister Singh had lost no time on Sunday in congratulating Sharif on his election victory, which will give him his third term as prime minister of Pakistan, and invited him to visit India at a mutually convenient time.
In an unusually quick response even as counting of votes was underway in Pakistan, Singh conveyed India's desire to work with him to chart a new course in India-Pak relations.
In a letter to Sharif, Prime Minister Singh said, "I look forward to working with you and your government to chart a new course and pursue a new destiny in the relations between our countries. I would also like to extend an invitation to you to visit India at a mutually convenient time."
During the campaign, 63-year-old Sharif had vowed to revive the India-Pak peace process which was interrupted in 1999 by the then military ruler Parvez Musharraf who ousted him in a bloodless coup. Sharif had started the peace process with then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Sharif invited Singh to Pakistan on Monday, Express News reported adding that he said he would also invite Singh to his oath-taking ceremony.
Nawaz has already indicated his desire to normalize "rollercoaster" ties with India.
Prime Minister Singh had lost no time on Sunday in congratulating Sharif on his election victory, which will give him his third term as prime minister of Pakistan, and invited him to visit India at a mutually convenient time.
In an unusually quick response even as counting of votes was underway in Pakistan, Singh conveyed India's desire to work with him to chart a new course in India-Pak relations.
In a letter to Sharif, Prime Minister Singh said, "I look forward to working with you and your government to chart a new course and pursue a new destiny in the relations between our countries. I would also like to extend an invitation to you to visit India at a mutually convenient time."
During the campaign, 63-year-old Sharif had vowed to revive the India-Pak peace process which was interrupted in 1999 by the then military ruler Parvez Musharraf who ousted him in a bloodless coup. Sharif had started the peace process with then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
