Signals from Nawaz positive, says Indian PM
Singh says both leaders want to resolve outstanding issues peacefully.
“It has been consistently our policy that we should deal with all outstanding issues,” says the Indian premier. PHOTO: AFP
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that both he and incoming Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif want to take relations between the two nations forward and resolve outstanding issues peacefully, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).
Talking to reporters on his way back from his trip to Japan and Thailand, Singh said that both leaders had invited each other to visit their countries. “I rang up Nawaz Sharif on the very first day the election results were coming out... I conveyed my congratulations to him and I reciprocated his sentiments that India-Pakistan relations should move forward,” PTI cited Singh as saying.
“I invited him to visit India [and] he invited me to visit Pakistan. [But] there is no firm decision on either side,” he maintained.
“It has been consistently our policy that we should deal with all outstanding issues,” the Indian premier maintained.
“We are committed to resolving them in a peaceful manner. That is also the sentiment that was reciprocated by Nawaz Sharif,” Singh added.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2013.