The Centre said on Thursday that it was willing to hold a sustained dialogue with Pakistan, provided the latter's soil was not used for attacks on India.
“If there is goodwill from Pakistan and if there is [an] assurance that their soil is not going to be directed by terrorist instrumentalities to attack India or to foment anti-India feelings, then India certainly would be willing for a sustained dialogue with Pakistan,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said in the Rajya Sabha.
“Terrorism is our core concern when we have talks with our counterparts in Pakistan. So… the biggest confidence-building measure that Pakistan could offer to India is to prevent further terrorist attacks and the provocative speeches that are being made against India day in and day out by Jehadi forces led by the ISI and others,” he said while replying to queries during question hour.
Asserting that it was India's desire to have friendly and cooperative relations with Pakistan, Mr. Krishna pointed out that there was an uninterrupted dialogue between India and Pakistan from 2004 till the Mumbai attacks. “The terrorist attack on Mumbai was a point where we had to discontinue the composite dialogue that we were carrying on with Pakistan… we want to stay with Pakistan and we want to progress with Pakistan, because that would ensure the peace and tranquillity in the entire region.”
Referring to the role of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai attack, Mr. Krishna said: “We consider that he was the mastermind of the Mumbai attack. But unfortunately, Pakistan becomes subjective whenever we take the name of Hafiz Saeed and others into these discussions. So, we certainly would like Pakistan to be helpful, to be cooperative with India, so that we can live in peace with each other.”
