Pak for talks, Qureshi tells Krishna

 
In a congratulatory letter to new External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi conveyed Islamabad’s commitment to resolve all bilateral issues through talks with New Delhi.

“Pakistan remains committed to the pursuit of cordial and mutually beneficial relations with India and to resolve all bilateral issues between the two countries through dialogue and in a peaceful and cooperative environment,” Qureshi wrote to Krishna.
India had put a pause on the composite dialogue with Pakistan after the terrorist attacks on Mumbai on November 26 last year. The two nuclear neighbours had started dialogue in February 2004 Islamabad, of late, has been pressing for resumption of talks. It even persuaded Washington to put pressure on New Delhi to resume the peace process. But New Delhi has been maintaining that it would not budge unless the latter brings the perpetrators of 26/11 to justice and dismantle terror infrastructure within Pakistan.

Krishna, too, reiterated the official stand of India during his first interaction with media persons after being entrusted with the External Affairs portfolio. He indicated that India would not resume talks with Pakistan if the latter did not take “credible and determined” actions on terror.

The 26/11 brought the Indo-Pak bilateral relation to a nadir with New Delhi launching a diplomatic offensive against Islamabad and forcing the latter to admit that the attack was partially planned in Pakistan and some Pakistanis were involved in planning and execution of the deadly terror strike that had left at least 174 dead.

The Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, too, congratulated Krishna on his assumption of office as External Affairs Minister.

Jiechi said that he was keen to work with Krishna to boost bilateral ties.

China’s assurance

“I am ready to work closely with Your Excellency to implement the important consensus reached by leaders of both countries and push forward the continuous, stable and sound development of bilateral relations,” he wrote to Krishna.

The trade between India and China is growing steadily, although the two neighbours are yet to resolve the vexed boundary dispute.