India, Pakistan have to become one country: top official
NEW DELHI, Dec 24 (AFP) -
India and Pakistan have no other option but to work towards becoming one country, Abdul Kalam, the architect of India's missile programme and its May 1998 nuclear tests, said in remarks published Friday.
Kalam, scientific advisor to the Indian premier, was quoted by the Outlook magazine as saying that if Europe, a continent with a long history of wars, could become one solid entity, then there was hope for India and Pakistan.
"Having a combined cricket team or a combined hockey team is not the first priority towards unity. The two countries have to become a geographical entity," Kalam, a Muslim, said.
"It may take take two or three decades, but it will happen for sure. There is no other option."
India's May 1998 nuclear tests triggered a tit-fot-tat response from neighbour and arch rival Pakistan and attracted a raft of US-led international sanctions.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their partition in 1947 and engaged in a bitter two-month conflict last summer in the divided state of Kashmir.
Kalam also said a "native mentality" was holding India back from becoming a technological superpower.
"We are afraid of celebrating the success of our people in various fields. Above all, there is a mindset for propagating a love for foreign goods by the well-to-do, the rich and professionals," he said.
Kalam started life as a newspaper boy in the Hindu holy city of Rameshwaram, on India's southern tip and overcame his childhood poverty to study science.
He started his career in 1958 at the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which he later headed. In 1997 he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, or Jewel of India, the highest civilian honour.
NEW DELHI, Dec 24 (AFP) -
India and Pakistan have no other option but to work towards becoming one country, Abdul Kalam, the architect of India's missile programme and its May 1998 nuclear tests, said in remarks published Friday.
Kalam, scientific advisor to the Indian premier, was quoted by the Outlook magazine as saying that if Europe, a continent with a long history of wars, could become one solid entity, then there was hope for India and Pakistan.
"Having a combined cricket team or a combined hockey team is not the first priority towards unity. The two countries have to become a geographical entity," Kalam, a Muslim, said.
"It may take take two or three decades, but it will happen for sure. There is no other option."
India's May 1998 nuclear tests triggered a tit-fot-tat response from neighbour and arch rival Pakistan and attracted a raft of US-led international sanctions.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their partition in 1947 and engaged in a bitter two-month conflict last summer in the divided state of Kashmir.
Kalam also said a "native mentality" was holding India back from becoming a technological superpower.
"We are afraid of celebrating the success of our people in various fields. Above all, there is a mindset for propagating a love for foreign goods by the well-to-do, the rich and professionals," he said.
Kalam started life as a newspaper boy in the Hindu holy city of Rameshwaram, on India's southern tip and overcame his childhood poverty to study science.
He started his career in 1958 at the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which he later headed. In 1997 he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, or Jewel of India, the highest civilian honour.
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