Conditional diplomacy: ‘Proper atmosphere’ needed for Pakistan visit: Indian PM
Singh’s remarks came a day after he met President Zardari on the sidelines of the NAM Summit in the Iranian capital.
Indian Premier Manmohan Singh said on Friday that he was keen to visit Pakistan but only if the “proper atmosphere” was created.
“I am very keen to visit Pakistan and I am grateful for the invitation. But I also mentioned to President Asif Ali Zardari that we have to create a proper atmosphere,” Singh told reporters accompanying him on his return, after attending the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran.
Singh’s remarks came a day after he met President Zardari on the sidelines of the NAM Summit in the Iranian capital during which he pushed for action against India-directed terrorism and said that expeditious conclusion of the Mumbai terror attack trial will be a “major” Confidence Building Measure in bilateral relations.
The Indian premier noted that Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Islamabad was doing all it could in the realm of the court process.
The Singh-Zardari meeting on Thursday came a day after the Indian Supreme Court upheld Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Ajmal Kasab’s death sentence in the Mumbai terror attack case, this was the second meeting between the two leaders this year.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2012.
“I am very keen to visit Pakistan and I am grateful for the invitation. But I also mentioned to President Asif Ali Zardari that we have to create a proper atmosphere,” Singh told reporters accompanying him on his return, after attending the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran.
Singh’s remarks came a day after he met President Zardari on the sidelines of the NAM Summit in the Iranian capital during which he pushed for action against India-directed terrorism and said that expeditious conclusion of the Mumbai terror attack trial will be a “major” Confidence Building Measure in bilateral relations.
The Indian premier noted that Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Islamabad was doing all it could in the realm of the court process.
The Singh-Zardari meeting on Thursday came a day after the Indian Supreme Court upheld Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Ajmal Kasab’s death sentence in the Mumbai terror attack case, this was the second meeting between the two leaders this year.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2012.