Speech by the President of India, K. R. Narayanan at the Bouquet in Honour of General Pervez Musharraf, the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on July 14, 2001  

  Excellency President Musharraf, Begum Musharraf, Distinguished Guests from Pakistan, Ladies and Gentlemen,  
It is with the greatest pleasure that I extend to you and Begum Musharraf and the distinguished members of your delegation, a cordial welcome on behalf of the Government and the people of India. You must have, Excellency, sensed the warmth with which Delhi is welcoming one of its distinguished sons on his first visit to the city after nearly half a century. From this capital city that throbs with old and new history, the heart of a modern and resurgent India, may I give expression to the hope of our people that your visit, on any reckoning a historic one, will open a new chapter in the relations between our two countries that will enable us to walk together on the high road of peace and friendship to our common goal of progress and prosperity.

In 1945-46, when the partition of India appeared almost inevitable, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, sitting in a cell in a British jail, wrote in his book "The Discovery of India" and I quote "It is obvious that whatever be the future of India, even if there is regular partition, the different parts of India, will have to co-operate with each other, in a hundred different ways". And after the partition took place, he declared his belief that "it is to India’s advantage that Pakistan should be a secure and prosperous State with which we can develop close and friendly relations." Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah expressing the same sentiment to the press said that "now that the division of India has been brought about by a solemn agreement between the two Dominions, we should bury the past and resolve that, despite all that has happened, we shall remain friends". There are many things which we need from each other as neighbours, morally, materially and politically, and thereby raise the prestige and status of both the Dominions". It is this vision of the future articulated by the leaders of both our countries that we have to pursue as the unfinished agenda of partition for resolving all the differences between us and for ensuring peace and prosperity for our peoples.

India, Your Excellency, is home to one-sixth of humanity. It is a nation of unparalleled diversities, held together by the spirit of tolerance, by its policy and practice of secularism, and its deep attachment to democracy. The words of Emperor Ashoka still rings in our ears, "all sects deserve reverence . . . By thus acting a man exalts his own and at the same time does service to others". It was the same message that Akbar the Great proclaimed. I recall the words of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah in Pakistan Constituent Assembly when he referred to the tolerance and goodwill that Emperor Akbar showed to all as something that should be followed and practised. We in India hold fast to the fundamentals of tolerance and secular democratic principles and it is our conviction that on the basis of these principles India and Pakistan can regulate their relationship to one of genuine peace, friendship and co-operation.

Excellency, history has left behind many issues and problems between our two countries. But the major and the overriding issue for the millions that inhabit the sub-continent is that of poverty, illiteracy and ill health, in short general and massive deprivation. You have, Excellency, often talked about this. In India it has been our main preoccupation since Independence to eradicate poverty and to elevate the levels of living of our people.