Onboard special flight to Islamabad, June 23 (ANI): Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Thursday said that she was looking forward to her two-day visit to Pakistan capital Islamabad for bilateral talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir. She said that she would be going there with an open mind and added that her focus would be on ways to normalise ties between the two countries.
Interacting with mediapersons onboard her special aircraft, Rao said: "I am pleased to visit Pakistan. It is an important visit. It is the penultimate leg of resumed dialogue process. I bring the best wishes to the people of Pakistan."
She added: "We hope for a stable peaceful and progressive Pakistan . Three rounds of talks will be held on confidence-building measures, Jammu and Kashmir and friendly exhchanges. I have come with an open mind and constructive approach towards normalisation of relations between the two countries. The leaders of both our countries have instructed us to work to building our relationship towards normalisation."
She further said: "The best opportunities present themselves in difficult circumstances. The India-Pakistan relationship is complex one and has a history. We have to learn from that history."
Rao's statement on the course the foreign secretary-level talks would take, came a day after External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said that expectations from the talks in Islamabad should not be pitched too high, because it is one of the relationships that New Delhi is trying to cultivate over the last few months.
Returning from an official visit to Myanmar, Krishna had said that all issues that affect India-Pakistan ties would be discussed at the secretary level talks on June 23 and 24 in Islamabad.
"I have suggested that all issues that bug our relationship are going to be discussed, when the foreign secretary visits Islamabad. So, let us not speculate and let not the expectations be pitched too high because this is one of the relationships, which we are trying to cultivate in the last few months," said Krishna.
Krishna added after the setbacks that the relationship had received in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008, the Indian Government is baking a determined cake to work out a cordial relationship with immediate neighbour Pakistan.
"I have said that terror is going to be one of the issues, which will naturally be discussed with Pakistan and the whole region is terror infested and as somebody put it, I would only say that all issues concerning terror, all issues concerning various other issues between our two countries will be discussed," added Krishna.
India broke off negotiations with Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks in 2008 by Pakistan-based militants that killed 166 people, but the two sides agreed earlier this year to resume talks.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had too urged Pakistan to speed up the Mumbai attacks trial case.
"When I refer to the issue of closure, I was of course referring to the Mumbai terror attacks. There is an ongoing trial in Pakistan that has moved rather slowly and when we talk of closure, what we are implying is that justice should be done in this matter and those who were responsible for triggering this terror attack, who conspired to attack our people should be brought to justice," said Rao.
She said the issues of militancy, which infests the region is of utmost concern and Pakistan has been telling in recent months that their country is seriously affected by this problem and that many Pakistanis have also fallen victim to militancy.
Rao added the idea behind the secretary level talks is to address the issue of trust deficit and build more confidence in the relationship.
"Well the idea is to address the trust deficit and to build more confidence in the relationship, to strengthen exchanges between the two countries and to have a meaningful dialogue on the outstanding issues that have complicated our relationship in the past," added Rao.
She noted there are many areas where there is need to normalise relation between the two countries like issue of trade, issue of contacts between people of the two sides, issue of people to people exchanges, issue of making travel easier between the countries.
Rao and her Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir have been assigned the task of tackling the territorial argument over Kashmir, which lies at the heart of tension between the two nuclear-armed states.
The talks on Thursday and Friday are expected to improve ties between the two neighbours, which have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, but analysts say any breakthrough is unlikely.
Most analysts say one should not expect any big and immediate results out from these talks because Kashmir is an old and complicated issue and it cannot be resolved easily. By Smita Prakash (ANI)
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