Islamabad, September 22: Pakistan appears to be setting the tone for the first high-level contact with India in two months, with its top leadership asserting it wanted improved sub-continental ties in the interest of peace and development.
At a meeting with former US president Bill Clinton in New York Monday, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said the resumption of the sub-continental composite dialogue was in the best interests of the region.
Zardari also reiterated that Pakistan was determined to prevent its territory from being used against any other country, APP news agency reported.
On his part, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Tuesday that Pakistan wants good relations with all neighbouring countries, including India, on the basis of equality.
Addressing a large gathering at the Multan circuit house, Gilani said Pakistan wishes to resolve the water and Kashmir disputes with India through negotiations.
He also stressed that the two nuclear powers should decide to move forward and focus on the well-being of their poverty-ridden people, adding this will pave the way for a socio-economic revolution in the region.
He said the 1.25 billion people of the two countries need development, education, health facilities, and business investment to get their problems addressed.
Gilani comments come a day after it was announced Monday that with Pakistan arresting suspected Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in New York Sep 27 to review Pakistan’s action against the 26/11 terrorists.
The foreign ministers’ meeting will be preceded by talks between India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in New York Sep 26 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
“The foreign secretaries meeting is being held in accordance with the decisions made during the talks between the prime ministers of Pakistan and India at Sharm-el-Sheikh in July,” Bashir said in Islamabad.
“The foreign ministers will meet to discuss the agenda prepared by the two foreign secretaries,” he said.
Bashir said: “All the issues between the two countries, including terrorism and the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir, will be discussed in these meetings.”
But India wants the talks to focus on an issue it considers central to its relations with Pakistan: an end to cross-border terrorism and justice for the 26/11 carnage that was perpetrated by Pakistan-based militants.
After six dossiers India gave and months of pressure from New Delhi and Washington, the Pakistani police Monday put Saeed under house arrest with a posse of police personnel ringing his residence in Lahore. The police also barred Saeed from leading Eid prayers on grounds of “security concerns”.
Also on Monday, Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram demanded that Saeed be interrogated as all evidence against him was “on Pakistani soil”.
“Even if it is a face saving technique, I have no objection. My demand is that now that he has been arrested, he should be interrogated for his role in the 26/11 incidents,” Chidambaram told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Chennai.
“Evidence is on Pakistani soil. When Pakistan says ‘give us evidence’, evidence is not on Indian soil. All the evidence against Hafiz Saeed is on Pakistani soil,” the home minister said.
“Therefore, one must investigate in Pakistan and find the evidence in Pakistan,” Chidambaram said while referring to Islamabad’s contention that the evidence provided by New Delhi against Saeed.
The meeting between the two foreign ministers, the first high-level contact between the two countries after the meeting between their prime ministers in July, will be keenly watched for any sign that may indicate the resumption of stalled comprehensive dialogue between the two countries.
But the meeting, say reliable sources, is unlikely to produce any breakthrough as there is growing perception in India that Pakistan has done little to bring 26/11 attackers to justice after the Sharm-el-Sheikh meeting.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao Saturday made it clear that the resumption of dialogue, stalled after 26/11 attacks, is contingent on Islamabad tackling cross-border terror “squarely”.
“The dialogue process is contingent on creating an atmosphere free from violence. The first step we need to take is to squarely address the issue of terrorism,” she stressed.
–Agencies