Pakistan was looking forward to the upcoming talks between President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the NAM (Non Aligned Movement) Summit with a desire to resolve their most important issues, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said here Wednesday.
“We are moving out of trust deficit zone, and that is a pre-requisite for us to be able to really sit on the negotiating table and solve most important issues,” Khar told reporters a day ahead of the meeting of the two leaders in the Iranian capital.
President Zardari is expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Thursday, which will be their second meeting in four months.
The foreign minister said the environment for Pakistan and India was now moving towards trust building.
“All previous talks between the two leaders have been very useful particularly in New Delhi and we hope the same spirit would continue in Tehran,” she said.
She said both the sides needed to show commitment to move forward. “As far as Pakistan is concerned, it is committed to moving forward beyond any other issues that might arise between the two countries.”
Regarding the talks between the two foreign ministers at Islamabad in September, Khar said she looked forward to meeting her counterpart Mr Krishna and hoped for a productive meeting.
On reports in Indian media about some SMS and e-mail messages emanating from Pakistan, the foreign minister said there was a need to find a more mature way to handle such issues as these would continue to haunt the two countries.
“I am very disappointed every time something reaches Pakistan through the media because we believe that we have been able to invest in this relationship enough to expect a call from any counterpart if any such concern or suspicion arises, because we have to move beyond this.”
The foreign minister said she believed that the Indian media needed to become more positive to help the two countries resolve their issues.
She said Pakistan had repeatedly expressed willingness to help resolve the issues in a useful manner.
Pakistan is looking forward to talks with India: Khar
