Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, who met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York despite strong criticism from home, wants to “trust” the recently appointed Pakistani Prime Minister and give him a chance to “walk the talk” on putting an end to ceasefire violations and terror activities against India.
Indian external affairs minister, Salman Khurshid explained that while “seeking to trust” Sharif, India will “verify” the actions on the ground before taking any on resuming the stalled dialogue process. In a recent interview, Khurshid said the “bacteria” of anti-India terrorism rooted in Pakistan must be eliminated whether “it is state-sponsored, state-controlled, state-mandated or state-encouraged” and should not be allowed to grow and destroy the “sapling” of a “creative constructive relationship.” “Our Prime Minister wants to give him (Sharif) a chance, wants to trust him. But as he (Singh) has said we have to verify,” said Khurshid while defending Singh’s meeting with Sharif despite the BJP’s contention that it was not the right time as Pakistan had committed ceasefire violations. Noting that Sharif has taken over as prime minister of Pakistan recently, he said there is a “reasonable element of hope that this discussion will not go waste and it will lead to some improvement and something concrete in the future.”
At the hour-long meeting with Sharif yesterday on the sidelines of UNGA, Singh made it clear that ending ceasefire violations on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir is a pre-condition for resumption of bilateral dialogue. Rejecting BJP’s opposition to the meeting, Khurshid said, “We owe it to our nation. Trust but verify. You can turn it (the statement) around. We can verify and then trust. Now, I think, what our Prime Minister has done is that he has kept verify and trust in parallel. Khurshid remarked, “Our PM has chosen among various alternatives that have been suggested by Pakistan. He has preferred his own view which is — now this should be done at the level of DGMO. And the good thing is Pakistan’s acceptance.”
He did not elaborate on the suggestions made by Pakistan but sources said they had wanted a committee of Foreign Secretaries to be set up to address LoC violations issue. When asked about the fate of the dialogue process which is at a standstill in the wake of ceasefire violations, Khurshid said the talks were suspended “because of circumstances.” He said dialogue can be resumed only after “looking at how much success we can get on the ground in terms of peace and tranquility (on the LoC) and what reports we get from the DGMO.” He highlighted that while the main dialogue was at a “standstill”, a “lot of other things” are continuing.