Speakers at a seminar in Dhaka Thursday expressed concern at the escalation of border tensions between India and Pakistan and called for restraint for the sake of peace and stability in the region, the Bangladesh News Agency reported.
Addressing the seminar on "Civil-Military Relations and Nuclearization of India and Pakistan" in the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), State Minister for Foreign Affairs Reaz Rahman voiced his concern at thetense relations between the two South Asian neighbors and said theleaders of India and Pakistan should hold discussions to defuse the tensions.
He said the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) could provide a forum for reducing tensions between the two countries. He also suggested people-to-people contact to ensure peace.
Zillur Rahman Khan of the University of Wisconsin, the United States, said in his paper that the tensions between the two regional nuclear powers reached the most dangerous level after terrorist groups carried out a suicide attack against the Indian parliament on December 13, 2001.
He urged the two countries to negotiate to resolve all outstanding problems including Kashmir.
BIISS, Independent University, Bangladesh and the Centre for Development Research, Bangladesh, jointly organized the seminar.
(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2002)
