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Pak-India talks at Secretaries' level planned
The Pakistan-India peace process, stalled for eight months, got a fresh lease of life when President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit here on Tuesday. The two sides agreed that their foreign secretaries would meet on 'mutually convenient dates' to be followed by another meeting of the two leaders on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Egypt in July. 'The two foreign secretaries will meet at mutually convenient dates and discuss the steps to be taken on either side to deal with extremism and terrorism and from those discussions the political leadership will re-engage at Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt),' Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said after the meeting. The one-to-one meeting between President Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh which began with a 'warm handshake' lasted for about an hour. Earlier, Mr Mehmood Qureshi and Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and National Security Adviser N.K Naraynan joined the two leaders for a photo session. Mr Qureshi replied in the negative when asked if the engagement between the two foreign secretaries was part of the composite dialogue process, but said: 'It is a positive step forward.' He termed the meeting between the two leaders a 'positive development' and said 'the only sensible course was to talk to each other'. He said the people of South Asia wanted peace, security and development and wanted the two nations to live in harmony. Asked if Pakistan would raise the water dispute with India, the foreign minister said that all contentious issues could be raised when the talk process began. The Foreign Office in a statement issued after the talks said: 'The two leaders among other things discussed the question of resumption of the composite dialogue. Pakistan believes that the resumption of composite dialogue, and addressing seriously and with sincerity, a range of issues, is the only way forward.' 'The president reiterated the desire of the government of Pakistan to cooperate with India in bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice. It is imperative that the Pakistan-India joint anti-terrorism mechanism be re-activated.' The president expressed the hope that Pakistan's relations with India would enter a new era and the existing outstanding issues and disputes, including Jammu and Kashmir, would be resolved. The statement said that Pakistan remained committed to friendly and good neighbourly relations with India. 'My mandate is to tell you that Pakistani territory should not be used for terrorism against India,' the Press Trust of India quoted Prime Minister Singh as telling President Zardari. It said that after Mr Singh's comments Mr Zardari immediately asked journalists to be escorted from the room so the meeting could be continued in private. PTI reported that Mr Singh was also understood to have conveyed India's 'unhappiness' over Pakistani inaction against terrorism aimed at India. Mr Singh also expressed disappointment over the release of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed suspected by India of being among the masterminds of the Mumbai attacks. The two countries have already completed four rounds of the composite dialogue, but the fifth round was halted by India after the Mumbai attacks in November last year. President Zardari and Prime Minister Singh are in Russia to attend as observers the summit of SCO that groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The two leaders last met in Sept 2008 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York.--Agencies Posted by: Omock Jerert4398 2009-06-17 |
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