Cricket catalysed India-Pakistan contact: Dhaka daily

A prominent Bangladesh daily has said cricket played "a catalytic role" in South Asia as the leaders of India and Pakistan have agreed that they could settle their disputes bilaterally.

"Their realisation that they have to solve their problems all by themselves will be welcomed everywhere," the Daily Star said Saturday of the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani at Mohali amidst the World Cup semi-final match.

" ufffdboth prime ministers sounded a positive note of resolve to grapple with outstanding problems," it noted.

"Manmohan Singh said, 'Whatever may be the differences between the two countries, we have to devise ways to resolve them bilaterally'," it recalled.

"Gilani reciprocated saying, India and Pakistan have the capacity to settle their differences bilaterally," the newspaper noted in its editorial.

"In contrast to the high tension inside the Mohali stadium, there was no result-scoring pressure on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh nor on his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani. The added value was in the host-guest friendliness in the field at the crowd level of supporters of both teams."

"Relaxed, Manmohan and Gilani made full use of the huge block of time at their disposal, talking a whole range of bilateral issues and sharing concerns for resolving them in the enlightened interest of both countries," the Daily Star said.

"Cricket has really played a catalytic role in a specific way in the sense that both the prime ministers have expressed their joint resolve to start a long term process of negotiations to come to terms with each other on a wide range of issues," said the editorial.

The game brought heads of government of the two arch rival countries under the same roof and for hours together. "It was indeed, in terms of duration and quality, a diplomatic engagement, not on the sidelines of cricket, but turned out to be something of a mainstream event in its own right. It was uninhibited by formalities or schedules or any rigidity of pre-arranged agenda."

The newspaper expressed the hope: "If they go about building tangibly on the positive vibes from cricket-centred Mohali diplomacy, the region as well as the two countries will benefit from an ambience of peaceful coexistence."