As he prepares to meet External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna next month, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said “nothing dramatic” should be expected from “one sitting” and emphasised that the dialogue process should be made “irreversible“.
Mr. Qureshi, who along with Mr. Krishna has been tasked to bridge the trust deficit, said mutual suspicions were the main reason for the trust gap and the two countries should work to remove those.
He told PTI in an interview in Islamabad that he will make some suggestions to Mr. Krishna for reducing the trust deficit but refused to divulge these.
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Noting that many of the India-Pak issues are long outstanding, he said, “We have to understand and realise that in one sitting, which is on July 15, nothing dramatic is going to happen. We are not magicians.”
Mr. Qureshi contended that “we will do our best to create an enabling environment so that we can gradually proceed towards what we want to achieve. What do we want to achieve - peace, economic development, prosperity of our people and stability” in the region.
“This is a process. It is a long haul. There are no quick fixes. There are no easy solutions,” he underlined.
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Mr. Qureshi said he was “very positive” and viewed as “a big step forward” Mr. Krishna’s scheduled trip to Islamabad which will follow the visit by Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
“The positive thing is that leadership on both sides has recognised the fact that dialogue is the only way forward. This realisation led to resumption (of dialogue),” he said.
Describing increased interaction as valuable, he said the dialogue process should go on and the two countries should take it to “such an extent that it becomes irreversible.”
He noted that Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Yusuf Raza Gilani have given mandate to him and Mr. Krishna to create an “enabling environment”, “suggest steps to build confidence” and take measures that will narrow the trust deficit.
Dr. Singh and Mr. Gilani, during their meeting on April 29 in Thimphu, decided that the Foreign Ministers of the two countries will meet to discuss ways to reduce trust deficit which is essential for improvement of relations.
Asked about the main reason for the trust deficit, Mr. Qureshi replied, “suspicions.” He said it was on both sides.
“How can we reduce it? We can reduce it by engaging, by understanding, by listening to each other, by sitting together and the more frequently we meet across the board, I think the more chances are the suspicion levels will gradually start going down,” he emphasised.
Asked if he meant that removal of suspicions would bridge trust, he said, “I would say that, to an extent.”