Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's speech at the inaugural session of the SAARC summit in Islamabad on Sunday not only underlined his qualities as a statesman but also provided the regional grouping with an agenda that will make for both prosperity and peace. As he pointed out, the benefits to flow from closer economic cooperation have already been manifest in the cases of the ASEAN, the European Union, and the countries of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean region. Not only that, the establishment of a free trade area, an economic union, the opening up of borders and the promulgation of a common currency-objectives he mentioned-would also boost the cause of peace. The development of greater economic stakes in one another would lead, as he stated, to "greater sensitivity to the concerns of others". It will also do two other things. First, it will reinforce the cause of peace and friendship by making people aware of the benefits of mutual cooperation which require both. Second, closer people-to-people, official and business contacts resulting from these, will help to remove apprehensions and misunderstandings that have prevented countries of the region from overcoming their mutual hostilities.

The Pakistani Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who praised the Indian Prime Minister as a visionary, a prolific writer and a poet, qualities that define a "true leader", was clearly wrong when he held that the economic goals that the latter mentioned, would remain "distant dreams" unless the region's political environment was addressed "in a just and realistic manner". A just and realistic solution to the region's contentious issues will remain elusive until a climate of mutual warmth, in which either side can make concessions, is established. To be specific, in the climate that prevails in both India and Pakistan, neither country can consider any solution that deviates from its well-known stand. It is this climate that needs to be addressed. While closer economic ties will help, no tangible progress can be achieved unless Pakistan ends its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism against this country as an instrument of State policy, and dismantles the infrastructure that it has set up for this. While Mr Vajpayee did not reiterate India's well-known position in this respect, just as Pakistan did not raise the issue of Kashmir, he underlined the need for it when he cited Bhutan's courageous action against Indian terrorists on its soil and described it as "an outstanding example of sensitivity to the security concerns of a neighbour, which is, at the same time, in the direct long-term security interests of Bhutan itself".

While Bhutan's action merits the highest praise, the two recent attempts on President Pervez Musharraf's life should convince Pakistan that the squelching of terrorism is also in its own long-term security interests. The climate in the South Asia, which, as indicated by the acceptance of a framework agreement on a South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA), has already undergone some change, will be transformed qualitatively once Pakistan does that. Meanwhile, Mr Vajpayee gave further evidence of India's concern for the well being of the entire region when he offered an initial allocation of $ 100 million to the proposed regional poverty alleviation fund, as he sought to underline their common history by calling upon them to celebrate jointly the 150th anniversary of the great uprising of 1857 against British rule.