Mahathir supports third party mediation between India, Pakistan

New Delhi: Malaysia’s veteran leader Mahathir bin Mohamad today advocated third party–the UN– intervention between India and Pakistan for resolving the Kashmir issue, saying such issues could not be settled through conflict.

Speaking to reporters briefly after a speech at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here, the 86-year old Dr Mahathir, who was Malaysia’s Prime Minister from 1981-2003, said such problems between nations could be solved in three ways–negotiations, arbitration and recourse to law.
The third party could not necessarily be any country but the UN, he added.
He said India and Pakistan could go to a third party.
Otherwise this issue would not have been there for 60 years.
Earlier in his address, he said India could learn from China in terms of its economic development if it was less democratic.
He said although democracy was the best form of government, it was not the easiest to govern because people did not understand the limitations of democracy.
He said a close market had slowed India’s growth and although India has been a democracy for a long time, it had a socialist-leaning which came in the path of growth.
It was important to understand the limitations of democracy, he added.