India hopes Pakistan would respond to its immediate concerns: Khurshid

Khurshid says that problems of the past should be shaken off and issues discussed with an open mind.

Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid hopes that Pakistan's new government will respond to its ‘immediate concerns’ such as accountability for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Press Trust of India reported.

"It is important to let them (the new Pakistan government) settle down, and let them take stock of the situation. Hopefully, they will start giving us signals that they mean business on those issues which are of immediate concern to us, and that includes accountability for the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai," Khurshid said.

"That is something we cannot wash away and should not wash away," Khurshid said in an interview to Straits Times in Singapore.

He also noted that the messages given out by Nawaz Sharif both during and after the campaign, publicly as well as privately have been very positive and meaningful and that the Indian Foreign Office had responded to that in a meaningful way.

Talks between India and Pakistan had halted for over two years in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Seven Pakistani suspects were been charged with planning, financing and executing the attacks that killed 166 people in Mumbai.

Responding to a question on whether there had been any new movement in the Indo-Pak peace process, Khurshid said, "There's a lot happening. But the actual dialogue, the resumed dialogue, has to be re-resumed because, as you know, there were events that caused matters to come to a virtual halt."

"Many of the important decisions we were taking as confidence-building measures were slowed down. As far as the actual dialogue is concerned, we will get back gradually," Khurshid said.

He also said that India was also looking at Pakistan's growing energy demands.

"Due to the urgency of supply of power and gas in Pakistan, we sent an experts team right way and they are now sending their team back to us. So we are already looking at one major area of importance to them," he said.

When asked whether he sees better ties with Pakistan under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, when 1999 Kargil War started, Khurshid replied, "The Kargil War is now history, we don't want to go into that. I think he (Nawaz Sharif), like anyone else, comes with a lot of experience from his time in the opposition."

"I think that he is showing signs of great statesmanship. He has certainly become a focal point of tremendous amounts of hope in Pakistan. He has given out a good message all around.We are responding to it with an open mind and with a positive attitude and hope that we can move forward rather than look back at what happened in the past,” Khurshid said.

On a question on whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be able to visit Pakistan before the end of his tenure, Khursid said that he could not make a statement.

“I cannot predict and cannot anticipate anything. But obviously, I think the story would remain incomplete if there wasn’t a face to face meeting between him and Nawaz Sharif. But there has to be a considerable amount of background work done. Once that work is done and we place it before the prime minister, he will make the call," he said.