At the two-day meeting beginning Thursday in Islamabad, India is expected to raise the issue of the slow pace of the ongoing Mumbai terror case trial in Pakistan as well as the larger conspiracy behind the 26/11 attacks.
“All issues that bug our relationship are going to be discussed when the foreign secretary visits Islamabad,” External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told reporters accompanying him on his way back home after a three-day visit to Myanmar.
He, however, asked everyone to refrain from speculating about the talks, saying “let not expectations be pitched too high because this is one of the relationships we are trying to cultivate in the last few months.”
Asked whether India would raise the issue of terrorism, he said terrorism will be one of the issues that is going to be naturally discussed with Pakistan. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the issue of “terrorism that inflicts our region is of utmost concern to everyone in the region. “What Pakistan has been telling us in the recent months is that Pakistan is seriously affected by this problem and that many Pakistanis have also fallen victim to terrorism,” she said.
Asked about her recent statement that India seeks “satisfactory closure” from Pakistan with regard to Mumbai attacks, she said: “There is an ongoing trial in Pakistan and it has rather moved slowly. When we talk of closure, what we are implying is that justice should be done in this matter and those responsible for triggering this terror attacks and also conspired to attack should be brought to justice.”
Talking about her upcoming talks, Nirupama Rao said the idea was to reduce trust deficit and build more confidence in the Indo-Pak relations and to strengthen exchanges between the two countries to have a “meaningful dialogue on all outstanding issue that have complicated our relationship in the past.” She said the talks were not an “event” but a process and that both sides will exchange ideas that will lead to more understanding.
Asked about the confidence-building measures on the nuclear front, Rao said “confidence building has to include a number of areas. And if we do more to reduce the tensions between the two countries and to reduce the trust deficit, it will greatly promote the relationship between the two countries.”
