Date:21/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/21/stories/2008052161780100.htm

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Pranab reaches out to new leadership in Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

“Progress in talks depends on terror-free environment”

— Photo: AP

Peace efforts: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee with the former Pakistan Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, in Islamabad on Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD: After the first day of talks, India said the new Pakistani political leadership conveyed a “strong commitment” to carry forward the peace process for the full normalisation of bilateral ties, but External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also pointed out that progress in the ongoing dialogue was dependent on a terror and violence-free environment.

“We approach the next round in a spirit of co-operation, trust and pragmatism. This is predicated on an atmosphere free from terrorism, violence and the threat of it,” Mr. Mukherjee said in a statement on arrival here on Tuesday.

Mr. Mukherjee, who expressed the optimism that the new democratic environment in Pakistan would help the two countries address issues of peace and security, people-to-people contact and economic development, spent the day reaching out to the new leadership of the country.

He held talks with Pakistan People’s Party leader Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif and Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan.

Mr. Mukherjee will hold a ministerial review of the fourth round of the composite dialogue process with his counterpart, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on Wednesday, and will meet President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani.

Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, who reviewed the last round of the composite dialogue process with his counterpart, Salmna Bashir, said that “what has emerged very clearly is that both sides have the will and the determination to carry forward the process of improving bilateral relations to move towards full normalisation … as rapidly as possible.”

Refusing to compare the new government’s vision for relations with India with that of the previous dispensation, Mr. Menon said that “what we heard from the present Pakistani leadership was a strong commitment to improve relations.”

He said “both sides made it clear that they attach great value to the ceasefire, that both sides want the ceasefire to hold and that both will do everything to ensure that it holds.”