|
Addu
Atoll/New Delhi: Amid a shrinking trust deficit with
Pakistan, India Wednesday hoped to build on positive progress in
bilateral ties and pressed for speedy trial of 26/11 terrorists, a
day before talks between the leaders of the two countries in the
Maldives.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold talks Thursday morning
with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani at Hotel Shangri
La in the picturesque Addu Atoll on the margins of the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit.
Manmohan Singh arrived in Addu Atoll, the venue of the first SAARC
summit south of the equator, Wednesday afternoon and began a
four-day visit to the Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago of
1,190 islands. He was warmly received at Gan island by Maldives
President Mohamed Nasheed.
He will be holding bilateral meetings with all the South Asian
leaders, but the showpiece event will clearly be 30-minute
Manmohan Singh-Gilani talks. All issues will be on the table,
including terrorism and Jammu and Kashmir.
The talks will take place amid improving atmospherics in bilateral
ties triggered by positive gestures like Pakistan's quick action
in releasing an Indian military helicopter and crew within hours
after it strayed into Pakistani territory last month.
At Thursday's talks, India will press for justice for the victims
of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack but the focus will be on carrying
forward the peace process, given fresh momentum with Pakistan
according its eastern neighbour MFN status.
"It's not a lost cause (26/11) as far as we are concerned," an
official source said.
Ahead of the meeting, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna met
his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar for around 30 minutes
in Gan island and discussed the agenda for the talks.
Krishna stressed on recent positive developments in bilateral ties
like Islamabad granting New Delhi Most Favoured Nation status,
thus paving the way for stronger trade relations.
Krishna said the trust deficit with Pakistan was "shrinking," a
point which which was acknowledged by Khar. Terror figured
prominently in the discussions, with Krishna telling Khar that
Pakistan should not allow its territory to be used for anti-India
terror and pressed for speedy trial of 26/11 terrorists.
Krishna also welcomed a Pakistani judicial commission's visit to
India to interview some persons connected with the Nov 26-28, 2008
Mumbai terror attack. "Terrorism continues to be the focal point
of India's dialogue process with Pakistan. So when we discuss
bilateral issues, we certainly factor terror and its various
ramifications," said Krishna after meeting Khar.
Khar also struck a positive note.
"I think we can certainly say from our side that we look at this
environment to have been improved considerably and the trust
deficit that typically exists between the two countries and has
existed for many years, to have been reduced to a large order,"
she said.
Khar, Pakistan's youngest foreign minister, stressed that she
expected a further improvement in the "positive environment"
between the two countries.
Stressing on the "feel good factor", Pakistani Foreign Secretary
Salman Bashir said: "More contacts, more meetings are forward
looking. We did discuss the meeting at the summit level on
Thursday," he said.
In New Delhi, official sources said Manmohan Singh and Gilani will
look at "the entire gamut of the relationship and discuss how to
take it forward." They also stressed that "considerable progress"
had been made since the two prime ministers met in Thimphu last
April. The two leaders also met in Mohali March 30 during the
India-Pakistan cricket World Cup semifinal.
"We have made considerable progress. There are big issues like
26/11 and terrorism that lead to a trust deficit. We are on track
to reduce the trust deficit on these issues," sources said.
Amid conflicting statements from Islamabad on the grant of MFN
status, the sources said there was "tremendous interest among the
business community in Pakistan about opening trade with India".
Currently, legal bilateral trade between India and Pakistan is
estimated at $2.7 billion but the total trade, including through
third countries like Dubai, Singapore and Sri Lanka, could be as
high as $6 billion. The grant of MFN status, the sources said,
could lead to a quantum jump in trade between the two countries.
(Manish Chand
can be contacted at manish.c@ians.in)
|
Comments
|
Quick links