By Talat Masood
Sri Lanka is one of the few countries in South Asia with which Pakistan has endeavored to develop a broad-based relationship covering trade, commerce, culture and defense matters. Successive governments in Pakistan, whether they were democratic or military dictatorships, have valued this relationship and made efforts to further widen and deepen it.
This is despite the fact that Sri Lanka s interest in strengthening these relations has varied with which political party or group has been in power. It would be a fair assumption to say that in South Asia, Sri Lanka and Nepal are the two countries with which Pakistan has sustained relatively the most balanced and cooperative relationship.