LAHORE, Feb 28: Need for increasing people-to-people contacts by relaxing visa restriction and restoration of direct trade was stressed for expediting the Indo-Pak peace process at the launching ceremony of Sikh writer Tridivesh Singh Maini’s book titled ‘South Asian cooperation and role of Punjabs’ here on Wednesday.

At the launching ceremony of the book arranged by the Pakistan India Peace Initiatives at Alhamra Art Centre, Pakistan Thinkers Forum chairman Shahid Hamid said both the countries should themselves resolve their disputes and curtail the role of bureaucrats in this regard.

He said the two countries should hold direct negotiations for resolution of all the disputes, including Kashmir issue, instead of waiting for the help of world powers.

He said increase in people-to-people contacts and restoration of trade could expedite the peace process and help normalize relations. Visa restrictions should be relaxed, police report condition waived and visitors issued country-specific visas instead of city specific.

He said businessmen of Dubai were benefitting from indirect trade between India and Pakistan and people of the two countries paying higher prices. The prices could be reduced significantly in case of direct trade through land route.

PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan said India could not emerge as a regional power without resolving disputes with Pakistan. Resolution of disputes and direct trade were also in the interests of Pakistan as it could export its bed linen and other goods to India instead of European Union and the US. Pakistanis could also buy a motorcycle for Rs22,000 and a bicycle for Rs2,200 in case of direct trade with India.

He said the government should not depend on bureaucracy for normalisation of Indo-Pak relations as bureaucrats could not think about welfare of the people.

Former UN assistant secretary-general Zia Rizvi said the two Punjabs could contribute to normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan because of common culture, history, heroes and rivers. If European countries could form a union despite deaths of 30 million people in two world wars, India and Pakistan could also normalise relations. Both the countries would be losers in case they did not normalise ties in the present age of integration of regional markets.

Mujeebur Rehman Shami said Punjab had not only been divided but had suffered the most due to partition. The history of the sub-continent would have been different if Punjab had not been divided. India and Pakistan should, however, learn lessons from history instead of becoming its prisoners.

He said writer Tridivesh Maini had called for a forward-looking approach and proposed confidence building measures like promotion of people-to-people contacts.

Imtiaz Alam said the writer had called for revival of relations between two Punjabs for utilisation of their growth potential.

Moneeza Mirza from Government College University said cooperation between the two Punjabs could go a long way in normalisation between India and Pakistan. Both the countries should use multi-track diplomacy for resolution of conflicts. She proposed following of African model for equitable distribution of economic gains for resolution of disputes.

Tridivesh Singh Maini said normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan was necessary for achieving the objective of poverty alleviation which the champions of religion and nationalism had failed to do.