Serious concerns have piled up in Indo-Pak ties: Khurshid

India today said "serious concerns" have "piled up" in Indo-Pak ties in the backdrop of recent incidents, including killing of an Indian prisoner, which Pakistan will have to address before the two countries pick up "strands" of the composite dialogue.

With various Indo-Pak interactions scheduled in past few months, including at the level of Water Secretaries, being cancelled in the aftermath of the beheading of an Indian soldier along the LoC in January, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, "We have a composite dialogue which will have to be picked up again".

Asked what was his expectations from the new government in Pakistan, Khurshid said, "There are some serious concerns that have piled up over the past few months and obviously some of those concerns will have to addressed if we need to take all people in the country with us.

"It is important to have people supporting any initiative that is taken further".
He underlined that the composite dialogue has contours that both countries have decided are the best way to proceed.

"And that composite dialogue is essentially based on the idea of confidence building and resolving those issues that are possible to resolve and not getting into intractable issues that might take much longer to resolve," Khurshid told PTI in an interview.

"Obviously, that is where we will start off once again," he said.

Khurshid noted the positive comments that Pakistan Prime Minister-disgnate Nawaz Sharif made including on speeding up the Mumbai attack case trial there, not allowing the use of Pakistani soil for anti-India activities and the need to build peace with India.

"But these are signals given before he takes charge of the office of the Prime Minister and takes on board issues that are pending.
"We would like him to settle down in his new job and then take up strands from where we left off," he said.