Pakistan intends to invite External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to Islamabad where it will make "certain proposals" to bridge the "trust deficit" between the two countries.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt on Thursday.Sources indicate that while Dr Singh will seek a firmer commitment on tackling terror from his Pakistani counterpart, Gilani might rake up the contentious issue of Kashmir during the talks. The composite dialogue between India and Pakistan had come to a standstill after the terror attack on Mumbai in November
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi seems to be in a denial over failure in getting a commitment from the US the civilian nuclear deal.
The security situation in South Asia could get further complicated if the United States agrees to have a civilian nuclear deal with Pakistan, according to experts. Pakistan and the US are set to hold their first high-level strategic dialogue this week in Washington, co-chaired by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Pakistan wants a nuclear deal with the US on the lines of the ndo-US nuclear deal.
Pakistan said on Tuesday that it had given a "blank cheque" to China to play a role in improving the Indo-Pak ties and it is for India to decide whether they would be comfortable with Beijing acting as a "third party".
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that Islamabad would discuss all issues with India at the upcoming talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries in New Delhi.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi, foreign minister of Pakistan, spoke to Karan Thapar on issues ranging from the spread of Taliban to the investigations into the Mumbai terror attacks and the trust deficit between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Briefing leaders from PoK on its Kashmir policy ahead of crucial meetings with India to review the composite dialogue process, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi noted that the issue had remained "unresolved despite several attempts at bilateral and multilateral levels" over the last six decades. Pakistan "was ready to engage with India in a constructive dialogue to find a solution that is acceptable to all parties, in particular the people of Kashmir," he was quoted.
Putting the onus of resumption of dialogue on India, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said he was ready to meet his Indian counterpart S M Krishna anywhere at anytime and was even willing to fly back to New York on Thursday if he has time.
Pakistan will take up with India 'certain violations' of the provisions of a 1960 treaty in water projects, being constructed by the neighbouring country on Chenab and Jhelum rivers, during External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Islamabad in May.Design changes in the water projects being built by India go beyond the provisions of the Treaty and Pakistan is making efforts for their rectification. The Indus Waters Treaty gave Pakistan the rights to the rivers.
Rejecting India's demand to extradite the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks to the country, Pakistan has said such a move will be 'harmful' for it as there was no extradition treaty between the two neighbours. Qureshi said Pakistan had conducted its own 'independent investigations' into the charges of Pakistani elements involved in the Mumbai terror strikes and that it will do everything in the interests of India and Pakistan.
Pakistan said on Saturday night that its "hands are clean", it had nothing to hide and that it is not involved in the Mumbai terror attacks but offered unconditional support and assistance to India to unearth the hands behind the incident.
It seems that the Sharm-el-Sheikh controversy and Congress party's politics over it has hit the Prime Minister's Office. A source in the government is underplaying the September 27 meeting between Union External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in New York.
Visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday denied the terrorists who attacked Mumbai had travelled by boats from Karachi. He snapped back at the media in Chandigarh asking the question: "Have you seen the boat? Could you travel on that boat from Karachi? The media should be supportive and understanding. It's too early to say anything."
Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has asserted that the main agenda of his meeting his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in New York would be to pressurise Islamabad in taking action against perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack.
Despite the blasts, Pranab Mukherjee's Pakistan visit is crucial.
The composite dialogue between India and Pakistan will resume on May 21 and the two countries will review progress made so far in confidence-building measures, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Wednesday. "We will review the results of the fourth round of talks (under the composite dialogue) and then plan the agenda for the fifth round to be held after this meeting," Qureshi said.
In a major relief for Imran Khan, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday declared the former prime minister's arrest "illegal" and ordered his immediate release after he was produced before a bench on its orders.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf will pay a six-day state visit to China from April 10, his first foreign trip since the new coalition government took over, during which several bilateral agreements are expected to be signed. New Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar will accompany Musharraf during the visit. It will also be the first trip abroad by the new ministers.
Chaudhry, the former information minister, said that the decision was taken in a meeting of the lawmakers of the party ahead of prime minister's elections for which the party has nominated ex-foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Pakistan has been insisting on third party mediation on the Kashmir issue, a demand outrightly rejected by India which wants it to be dealt bilaterally. But chairman of the Pakistan People's Party that leads the ruling coalition had said recently that the ties between the two countries should not be held hostage to the Kashmir issue, which should be left for future generations to resolve.
The new approach should not be construed as putting the Kashmir issue on the back-burner. 'There are areas like trade where we feel we need to move on to the mutual benefit of both the countries,' Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in an interview with Dawn News channel.
The NC leader urged both India and Pakistan to resume their dialogue "for everyone's greater good".
Till date, Pakistan, in all its official communication, has been referring to Jammu and Kashmir as "Indian Administered Kashmir"
Both the countries have deployed their big guns for the 'diplomatic offensive'.
It is also learnt that Khan congratulated Modi on his election victory during their first face-to-face interaction.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Monday that his government will allow India to send a humanitarian shipment of 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat to neighbouring Afghanistan through its territory after finalisation of the transit modalities.
Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noor-Ul-Haq Qadri was seen seated near Saeed as he addressed an All Parties Conference organised by the Difa-e-Pakistan Council on Sunday.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, along with his ministers, will be part of the first 'jatha' (group), which will visit the Kartarpur Sahib on Thursday, officials said.
China on Thursday told Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that it will always put its "all-weather ally" as a priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy as it praised his commitment to promote the USD 60 billion CPEC initiative.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday chose Lt Gen Asim Munir as the new Army chief to replace incumbent General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Qureshi said the matter will be taken up during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to the country on September 5.
The decision was approved by Prime Minister Imran Khan in view of the tense situation in Kashmir, the minister told state broadcaster PTV.
The foreign minister said the conversation between the two leaders was held in a 'cordial environment'.
On being asked about the Swaraj-Qureshi meeting, the MEA sources said the two leaders only exchanged pleasantries.
According to the photos published by the Pakistani media, Swaraj and Qureshi were seen seated next to each other.
Though Bajwa met Saudi Arabia's Deputy Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Saudi Arabia's military chief of staff General Fayyad bin Hamid Al-Ruwaili, he failed to meet the crown prince.
This is the second time after Modi was re-elected to power that the Pakistani premier has expressed his desire to work together with India for the betterment of their peoples.
The India-Pakistan ties nose-dived in recent years with no bilateral talks taking place. The ties between the two countries had strained after Pakistan-based terror groups launched attacks in India in 2016.
'An in-principle decision has been taken to take the issue of Kashmir to the International Court of Justice'
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