'Pakistan-India civil societies should interact to bridge gap'

JAMMU: The gap between the people of Pakistan and India can only be bridged with the involvement of civil societies of both the countries, a top US think tank official today said.

Civil societies of the two nations need to interact "to shrink the space of vested interests", Director of the Washington-based Gilgit Baltistan Institute, Senge Hasnan Sering said at an interaction programme with newspersons at the Press Club here.

"People in Pakistan want change. They want to live in peace but there are elements who have vested interests and donot want peace to prevail in South Asia," Sering said.

"A change is possible only with the involvement of civil societies from India and Pakistan," he said.