Nawaz says he will renew his invitation for Indian premier to visit Pakistan

Prime Minister says that while terror attacks are extremely unfortunate, they should not derail dialogue process.

NEW YORK: Ahead of their breakfast dialogue in New York, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that he will renew his invitation to his Indian counterpart for visiting Pakistan, and that while terror attacks were extremely unfortunate, they should not derail the dialogue process, NDTV reported.

Nawaz, who is currently in New York for the UN General Assembly, said that this would be the first time he would be meeting with Indian premier Manmohan Singh and that he was looking forward to it. "I am looking forward to discussing all the bilateral issues with India."

The meeting though had been in jeopardy given recent tensions along the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region. Officials from both sides had been engaged for months in trying to arrange the meeting, and it wasn't before Nawaz and Manmohan had travelled to the US for the UN Assembly that a meeting was announced.

And two days before their Sunday morning meeting, a terror attack on an army camp near Jammu further cast a shadow on the meeting.

But Nawaz, who condemned the attacks, said such incidents must not be allowed to derail an all important dialogue process between the two nuclear-tipped neighbours.

In his speech at the UN on Friday, Nawaz had called for the threads of peace to be picked up where he had been forced to leave in 1999, following then Indian premier Atal Vajpayee's historic visit of Pakistdan.

Our two countries need to pick up the threads that were broken in 1999, Nawaz told NDTV's Barkha Dutt in an interview on Saturday.

The prime minister, who was elected for a third term in May, added that Thursday’s terror strike in Jammu was extremely unfortunate, and that he condemned it in absolute terms, however, the dialogue process between India and Pakistan shouldn't be derailed.

Noting that Increased tensions along LoC was a matter of concern, Nawaz said that during his meeting with Singh, he will propose a joint mechanism or independent mechanism to monitor what's happening along the contentious border.

"We propose our foreign secretaries & DGMOs meet separately to discuss LoC tensions."

Nawaz also reiterated his stance against a nuclear arms race in South Asia, which he had said on Friday had led to a “massive waste.” He told NDTV that his arms race needs to end, asking how long will the two neighbours remain trapped by this.

“We have wasted too much money buying F-16s, frigates, submarines and similarly India has done the same.”

But Nawaz made it clear he was not against allocations for the country's defence needs, but that they should be reasonable and not come at the expense of the country's social sector.

Nawaz said that when he meets with Singh, he will renew his invitation to the Indian premier to visit Pakistan, adding that his visit is long overdue. "We want him to come to Pakistan, see his native village, and of course give us opportunity to discuss things at length."

Earlier on Friday, during his meeting with US President Barack Obama, Singh said that the situation with Pakistan was difficult and accused India's western neighbours of being the "epicentre of terror."