India wanted to fully cooperate with Pakistan to normalise bilateral ties but it was “too early” to say whether the trust deficit was being bridged or had widened due to recent developments, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told journalists during an interaction over breakfast here on Wednesday.
It was in India’s interest to have a stable Pakistan as its neighbour but it should wage an across-the-board war on terrorism instead of adopting a selective approach. He was responding to queries whether India was again distrustful of Pakistan after Mumbai terror attack suspect Zabiuddin Ansari reportedly told his interrogators about close ties between the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander who had overall control of the attacks.
On being asked to explain his observation about Pakistan adopting a “selective” approach to tackling terrorism, Mr. Krishna said: “Many countries have conveyed to Pakistan that there are so many elements within the country who have been terrorism-oriented and try to invoke terrorism as an instrument to gain short-term and long-term objectives. This is the context in which I meant [Pakistan’s] selective approach.”
