They said Pakistani side showed that they understand India’s concerns over the Mumbai attacks trial on which the Pakistani side assured India of the steps to expedite the judicial process.
Advertisement
The two nations holding 1.5 billion people between them should set aside decades of mistrust to invigorate the region’s economies and boost stability, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told a regional conference on Afghanistan being held in Islamabad.
He said in the past, Pakistan had raised in the United Nations the matter of including Kashmir in comprehensive dialogue and would also take it up again in future at the worldwide forum.
A recent thaw, with both prime ministers briefly meeting on the sidelines of Climate Change conference in Paris in November and subsequent talks between security advisers in Bangkok, raised hopes of a cricket revival.
A joint statement issued after Ms Swarajs talks with Mr AzizSaid both sides condemned terrorism and resolved to cooperate to eliminate it.
Earlier speaking at the Heart of Asia ministerial conference, Ms Swaraj sounded conciliatory towards Pakistan as she called for a collective regional effort to fight terrorism.
A meeting of the national security advisers of the two countries in Bangkok last Sunday marked the first sign of a softening in India’s position. Narcotics control and humanitarian issues, people to people exchanges and religious tourism will also be part of the dialogue. The exact dates of this meeting will be decided soon, they said.
However, NSA-level talks between Doval and then Pakistani NSA Sartaz Aziz scheduled in New Delhi in August were cancelled after the Pakistan high commissioner in New Delhi insisted on inviting Hurriyat leaders for a reception in honour of Aziz. “Let me take this opportunity to extend our hand to Pakistan as well”, she said.
In August, Pakistan responded to the letter, and said the agenda for the talks were beyond the scope of Ufa statement.
Instead, the foreign minister who is in Pakistan as Prime Minister Modi’s latest peace envoy with Islamabad, referred in carefully drafted language to the “collective” duty of Afghanistan’s neighbours to prevent terrorists from finding safe havens. The Composite Dialogue process which continued for many years was suspended by India after the Mumbai attacks in 2008.
1998: A composite dialogue was started between India and Pakistan.
Advertisement
She also held bilateral meetings with her Kygyzstani and Iranian counterparts Erlan Abdyldaev and Javad Zarif respectively too.
