Pakistan’s foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Sunday struck a positive note on the future of Indo-Pak relations, saying the “trust deficit is zero or it has shrunk to a large extent” after the meeting between two Prime Ministers in Maldives.
When Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh met in the Bhutanese capital of Thimpu in April 2010, they set the goals of reducing the trust deficit and improving the environment to make dialogue possible, Ms Khar told a news conference at the foreign office.
Since the meeting of the premiers on the margins of the 17th Saarc Summit in the Maldives last week, the “trust deficit is zero or it has shrunk to a large extent” and the two countries now “need to start building on trust,” she said.
A conducive environment will help both sides carry on with their dialogue to address festering disputes, she added.
“In Thimpu, the two Prime Ministers gave us a direction and we have done a reasonably good job. From the Thimpu spirit, it’s now Addu hope,” she said, referring to the resort in the Maldives where the Saarc meet was held.
“We have invested far too much in seeking out hostility towards each other and too little in seeking out peace with each other. I told my Indian counterpart that I’m competing with you in positivity,” Khar said.
Asked about the Indian Prime Minister’s remarks that he would visit Pakistan only if there is some movement in prosecuting Pakistani suspects charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks, Ms Khar sought to link the 26/11 attacks to Islamabad’s demand for action against those responsible for the bombing of the Samjhauta Express train in 2007.
“We have said that more needs to be done on all fronts. In the UN, we brought up the issue of mass graves (in Jammu and Kashmir) and in all my interviews in India, I mentioned Samjhauta,” Ms Khar said. — PTI
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India to resume defence talks with china
New Delhi, Nov. 13: After a freeze in defence ties over visa row, India and China could resume their joint Army exercise, a decision regarding which will be taken at the Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) to be held in January next year. “India and China will discuss resuming the Army exercise at the ADD and after that only, a final decision on the issue would be taken,” senior Army officials said here on Sunday. Till now, India and China have held two exercises, last of which took place in Belgaum in Karnataka in December 2008. —PTI