Indo-Pak dispute hampering regional cooperation: Musharraf

TIL Desk/World/Dubai-The Indo-Pak dispute was a “stumbling block” in regional cooperation with SAARC proving to be ineffective due to its “politicisation”, former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf said today.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) happens to be the regional instrument for cooperative socio-economic development but it is proving to be quite ineffective, Musharraf said while addressing ‘South Asia Rising’ conference hosted by Eisenhower Fellows from South Asia.

“Individual countries are performing on their own but when we talk of collective performance of South Asia, there is no collective goodwill or collective cooperation and unfortunately the Indo-Pak dispute happens to be the stumbling block,” the former Pakistani president said.

“There is no doubt in my mind that opportunities for collaborative cooperation within South Asia abound. Collectively we have a large quantity of water available for livestock, for human consumption, for agriculture and also for the cheapest form of power generation,” he said.  Musharraf said that the region also has abundant fertile land and natural resources.