India, Pak must become friends & resolve issues: Haqqani

Attempts by certain sections in Pakistan to use terrorism to get even with India has backfired, former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said today as he called upon New Delhi not to let other SAARC nations feel "small" given its own giant size.
"India is the largest member of SAARC... It's always good not to wear high heels when your are tall. So that others don't feel even smaller... And I am quite sanguine that India is able to do that.
"Prime Minister Modi has taken the first step towards Bhutan. He has gone to Nepal. Hopefully, he will have a similar outlook towards Bangladesh and eventually the harder nut to crack...That is Pakistan," he said here.

Haqqani was speaking at a panel discussion organised by the Observer Research Foundation on the subject "Why India and Pakistan should normalise relations to make the SAARC dream come true".
The current bilateral approach of "dispute resolution first and friendship later" has to be abandoned in favour of "become friends and solve the disputes later" narrative, he said.
Haqqani, who has also authored books, said all those who had been supporting terrorism from within Pakistan have now themselves become victims of the menace.

"To think that terrorism and violence is the way to try and take advantage of a bigger neighbour and to make that bigger neighbour your equal by trying to undermine him, will only backfire and that is already happening. So those who have supported terrorism out of Pakistan are now becoming victims of terrorism themselves," he said.

The former envoy, who had also served as an adviser to Prime Ministers, said India and Pakistan have kept alive "anger" against each other and this has adversely affected the bilateral trade and business ties.
"We have ended up keeping our anger alive, we have kept our wounds open. This permanent state of animosity has resulted in a situation in which countries that have more in common than they have with others have less trade, less travel, less educational exchange," he said.
Both countries need to learn a lesson from countries that have "healed the wounds of history" and moved towards integration for economic gains, said Haqqani, who has been a vocal critic of the Pakistan establishment on certain issues.