Krishna, Qureshi Meet

India, Pak agree to move forward
EVERYTHING INCLUDING KASHMIR DISCUSSED: QURESHI

NISSAR AHMAD THOKAR
Islamabad, July 15: Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday said he and his Indian counterpart S M Krishna had “frank, candid and honest discussions” on “where we stand” and “how to move forward”.
“We had frank, candid and honest discussions on terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir, Sir Creek and Siachen,” said Qureshi at a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart SM Krishna here this evening.
Kashmir-related Confidence Building Measures were also discussed and how to built on it on what was achieved earlier, Qureshi said.
India and Pakistan discussed ways to hasten trial process happening here (on Mumbai attacks). Pakistan would take seriously the leads given by home minister P Chidambaram, said Qureshi.
He said both sides agree that the dialogue is the only way forward. “We have to respect the Indian point of view and they have to understand the Pakistani point of view. So these discussions were useful in creating an understanding on how to move forward,” Qureshi said.
Qureshi said areas of economic cooperation and ways of increasing people-to-people contact were also discussed and Islamabad is looking to build on the progress made in India-Pakistan relations in the past four years.
Addressing the press conference, Krishna said that Pakistan Foreign Minister gave a commitment that Pakistan’s soil will not be used against India. “I am going back with the hope that there will be further investigations in Pakistan into Mumbai attacks and if it could help unravel the conspiracy, perhaps this could be the best confidence building measure,” says Krishna.
Earlier, Krishna called on Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and discussed the issue of terrorism, with the Pakistani President stressing for timely intelligence sharing between the two countries to prevent acts of terror.
Krishna, who arrived here Wednesday on a three-day visit to hold parleys with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, met Zardari and discussed issues of bilateral concern.
Zardari said that “destinies of the people of both Pakistan and India and development of the entire region lies in friendly, cooperative and good neighbourly relations between the two countries.”
Krishna was accompanied by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal.
From the Pakistani side those who attended the meeting included Qureshi, Interior Minister Rahman Malik and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir.
In a related development, Pakistan Army chief, General Parvez Ashfaq Kayani, met Gilani before the two Foreign Ministers called on the Pakistani prime minister.
Thursday’s meeting is the most significant bilateral interaction since the prime ministers of India and Pakistan decided in Bhutan in April to normalise a relationship hit badly after Pakistani terrorists ravaged Mumbai in 2008.
On Friday, before leaving for home in the evening, Krishna will meet delegations from the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.