New Delhi, February 27: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated India’s stand to discuss all issues with Pakistan in an atmosphere free from terrorism as he insisted that there is no alternative to dialogue to resolve the issues that divide the two countries.”We should be good neighbours. In that quest we have consistently sought to engage those in Pakistan who are ready to work with us. There is no alternative to dialogue to resolve the issues that divide us,” Singh said.Further added as a neighbour, India could not remain immune to the rise of extremism and terrorism in Pakistan or on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.On the other hand Opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Nitin Gadkari has criticized the Centre for resuming dialogue with Pakistan.
Gadkari said’Our country’s government has tried to resume dialogue with Pakistan, which has begun a proxy war against us, which encourages cross-border terrorism, the country where nobody listens to the government, and the dialogue has completely failed.”
PM said “It is in our collective interest that we resolutely oppose, resist and overcome terrorism and all those who nurture, sustain and give sanctuary to terrorists and extremist elements.”
”…In so far as our dialogue with Pakistan is concerned, we are ready to discuss all issues with them in an atmosphere free from terrorism…
The first official talks between the two nations after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks ended on Thursday with only an agreement to ”keep in touch”, signalling that relations between the nuclear-armed rivals remain frosty.
While on Feb 25 Indo-pak talks ,India has handed three dossiers to Pakistan and demanded the arrest of Hafiz saeed.Neither diplomat said if there would be a next round of talks.
The two countries did not appear to agree on which subjects should be covered in the talks; India wanted to focus on terrorism while Pakistan eyed the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that has been the cause of two of their three wars.
Although India and Pakistan both said that the foreign secretary level talks is a “first step” towards the resumption of formal dialogues, certain differences could be sensed from the outcome of the discussions, which included serious issues like terrorism, Mumbai attacks, Kashmir and Balochistan.
Gadkari also slammed the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s proposal to offer amnesty to Kashmiri youth, who had crossed over to the Pakistan administered Kashmir and are now willing to surrender .
—Agencies