Seeking the resumption of the stalled composite dialogue with India, the Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has underlined the need to boost trade links to promote peace in the region.
Even as pushing for the resumption of dialogue, Mr. Qureshi said Pakistan was interested in “result-orient talks” with India and not merely “in photo session“.
Mr. Qureshi said Pakistan was not begging for peace with its eastern neighbour but it was important for the region and could best be promoted through trade links.
Delivering a talk on ‘Situation in Pakistan and its role in the war against terrorism,’ at the Oxford University yesterday, he linked the success in the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the restive NWFP close to the Afghan border with reduction in threat on the eastern front (the Indian border).
“We do have outstanding issues with India and wants to resolve them peacefully. Only when threat on the eastern front is diminished than we could concentrate on the western borders. Two fronts situation is not in Pakistan favour,” he was quoted as saying by the Pakistan government-run APP news agency today.
The Foreign Minister said Pakistan was interested in result-orient talks with India and he had made this clear to his Indian counterpart when they last met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.
“We are not interested merely in photo session but want concrete actions on the roadmap we gave to the Indians,” he underlined.
However, he was hopeful that the fifth round of the composite dialogue which remains suspended following the Mumbai incident in November 2008 would be resumed soon.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is himself a student at the Oxford University, was among a large number of students who had gathered to listen to the Foreign Minister.
