New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS) India and its neighbours need to “overcome the burden of history” to achieve peace, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Friday and added that he wished success to Islamabad in its fight against terror.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the annual HT Leadership Summit here Friday, Manmohan Singh expressed the hope that democracy would take deeper roots in all the neighbouring countries.

“I think Pakistan is grappling with many internal problems… terrorism is one of them and I wish them success in that. And without going into greater details, I would like to say that as I mentioned yesterday (Thursday) and day before yesterday the destinies of our two countries, and indeed the destinies of all countries of South Asia are closely interlinked,” said Manmohan Singh.

Stressing that India sought good relations with all its neighbours, the prime minister said: “We sincerely wish to resolve all outstanding issues with our neighbours through dialogue… that should characterise our relations.”

His comments comes two days after he offered Pakistan a “hand of friendship” in the Kashmir Valley.

“There are difficulties in expanding areas of cooperation, but they have to be overcome. And I believe it is for the leadership of all countries to make the future happen,” said Manmohan Singh.

Earlier, in his inaugural address he said without naming Pakistan that India and its neighbours need to “overcome the burden of history” to achieve peace.

“We need to overcome burden of history and we would like to achieve peace with them. We wish to see democracy take deep roots in all the (neighbouring) countries… We must not allow our past to limit our future,” said Singh.

Underlining India’s desire to resolve all issues with its neighbouring countries through dialogue, Manmohan Singh said that India was seeking good relations with each one of them.

“We (want) to live in peace with our neighbours and world at large. We wish to remain good neighbours and good global citizens. We seek good relations with each one of them (neighbouring countries)…We sincerely believe to resolve all our outstanding issues with our neighbours through dialogue… and that should characterise our relations,” the prime minister added.