Ahead of a meeting between the Foreign Secretaries, India on Tuesday said it is ready to go “more than half way” in normalising ties with Pakistan if it is “more sensitive” towards New Delhi’s “core concern” of terrorism.
“We are looking forward for Pakistan to be more sensitive towards our basic core concern. The core concern is terrorism and terrorism has to be tackled effectively,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said, adding it cannot be “shoved under the carpet.”
Asserting that India wants friendly relationship with Pakistan, he said Islamabad has to fulfil its assurance of dismantling the terror infrastructure operating from its soil for having fruitful talks.
He said India has shared with Pakistan information about training facilities, including their location and it should take corrective action. “We have suggested that if they fulfil those assurances, India is willing to go more than half way to reach (out to) Pakistan,” the Minister said.
Interacting with visiting foreign journalists, Mr. Krishna said he was looking forward to meet his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi when he comes to India some time in the first half of the year.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir are likely to meet on the sidelines of SAARC committee meeting in Thimphu on February 6-7.
He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan Premier Yusuf Raza Gilani during their meeting in Thimphu last year had agreed that it was necessary to bridge the trust deficit between the two nations and as a follow up of that meeting he had travelled to Islamabad in July last.
Although recent talks did not yield any significant outcome, he said the deliberations send a message to terrorist organisations as well as people that the confabulations are going on to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries.
Referring to 26/11, he said the Mumbai carnage “is just an instance as to how .... they came to this country and unleashed attack.”
