NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday that a second round of talks with Islamabad would begin soon and believes the Pakistan army was on board with the peace process he discussed with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani this week.
Speaking to Indian reporters on his way home from the Maldives, Dr Singh defended his description of Mr Gilani as a man of peace, but said it did not imply trusting anyone blindly. The India-Pakistan peace process was subject to accidents, the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted him as warning.
He said India wanted to strengthen the hands of the civilian government in Pakistan and that Mr Gilani, whom he met in Male on Thursday, had “clearly understood” that one more Mumbai-like attack would be a big setback in the peace process.
According to the PTI, he said his visit to Pakistan would take place only after Pakistan took solid steps against the Mumbai terror attack accused in that country.
“I would not like to go into the details of this matter. But when I did discuss with Pakistan Prime Minister whether Pakistan’s armed forces were on board, the feeling I got after a long time was that Pakistan’s armed forces were on board.”
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar had claimed earlier that the Pakistan army was on board the peace initiatives with India.
About Mr Gilani, his “man of peace”, Dr Singh said he had met him four or five times and every time they discussed bilateral issues, his counterpart had agreed that there was no way forward except for peaceful resolution of all problems and that terrorism was not helping the process.
“In fact, he (Mr Gilani) has gone ahead and expressed his reservations that terrorism is a common enemy, it (terrorism) has not helped advance Pakistan’s cause. I tend to believe that Pakistan has a democratic government. We would like to strengthen the hands of the democratic government.
“In the desire for normalising the relations, trade and terror-related issues, I think, in Mr Gilani Pakistan has a prime minister who is ready to work with us,” he said. “It is not that we are putting blind faith in one individual, however well-meaning he may be. PM Gilani and I believe in normalisation of relations.”
Dr Singh said he and Mr Gilani agreed that the resumed round of dialogue should start and it will be imperative in the development of trade relations with the changing attitude of Pakistan by giving Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and the willingness of Pakistan to discuss all issues, including that of terrorism.
“So I come back (from Male) with the expectation that the second round with Pakistan will begin very shortly. But what will be the outcome of the dialogue I cannot say now because Indo-Pak relations are subject to accidents,” he added.
“We both recognised that if there is one (more) incident like Mumbai attack, then that would be a big setback. I think that has been clearly understood by PM Gilani,” he said.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.