NEW DELHI, Sept 12: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday that trust deficit with Pakistan was hampering bilateral peace talks and asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf to work together with him to defeat terrorism.
“Terrorism today constitutes a threat for both countries,” Dr Singh told journalists travelling with him to Brazil and Cuba.
The premier said he was ready to discuss all issues with Gen Musharraf when they would meet on the sidelines of the NAM summit starting in Havana on Friday.
Dr Singh rested his peace efforts on three recent accords that India signed with Pakistan. They are the agreements of January 2004, September 2004 and April last year.
“It is incumbent on us to work together in a manner that inspires confidence that both of us are very serious about tackling the menace of terrorism.”
According to the official transcript of Dr Singh’s interaction with the media, he said he was willing to discuss all aspects of the ties with Gen Musharraf.
“There is a problem of trust deficit between our two countries. And we have to take that on board,” he said in response to a question.
Dr Singh said he believed “the destinies of the two countries are very-strongly interlinked and full development potential of the sub-continent cannot be realised unless there is reconciliation between India and Pakistan.”
The two would have an exchange of views on all issues, particularly “the commitment of Pakistan to not allow Pakistan territory, and that includes parts of Jammu and Kashmir which is in their occupation, to mount terrorist attacks against India,” Dr Singh said.
He disagreed with a suggestion that India and Pakistan had not made any tangible progress in talks. “I think we have moved very considerably over the last two years,” he said.
