Kochi, Mar 25 (UNI) Noted jurist Justice V R Krishna Iyer today welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's offer of a 'Treaty of Peace, Security and Friendship' to Pakistan as an ''imaginatively bold step forward'' in bilateral relations.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, copies of which were released here, the former Supreme Court judge said Indians and Pakistanis were one people once, and even now there was no reason why those living in these two geographical territories should not be bound together happily by a fraternal pact.

Stating that despite his poor eyesight and visibility, he had glimpsed the fine message of a peace treaty between India and Pakistan, Mr Justice Iyer told the Prime Minister ''you are a great statesman in presenting this fruitful project and I hope President Musharraf will respond with cultural comity.'' Describing the Kashmir issue as a ''disastrous stroke of historical materialism and dialectical perversion'', Justice Iyer regretted that the issue had spoilt the prospects of the people of the two countries living in peace and solidarity.

''Hateful hostility, huge waste of countless destructive weaponry and inimical alienation of nature's rare beauty have been the terrible price we have paid for decades for this Himalayan folly.

Let us reverse this misdirection, rehabilitate human fraternity and win for global humanity a gift of dynamic unity and historic tryst with destiny,'' he added.

While remarking that he did not agree with the Prime Minister's pro-Bush policy, Justice Iyer said that he, nevertheless, supported Dr Singh's ''imaginatively bold step forward in your epic mission of making India and Pakistan deeply friendly, happily and brotherly.'' The Prime Minister had made the offer of the treaty to Pakistan while flagging off the Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus yesterday.

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