Terror on Krishna’s talk agenda
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna will leave for Islamabad on Wednesday for his meeting with Pakistan counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The visit is expected to set the ball rolling for a structured dialogue, which will reduce the post-26/11 trust deficit and take the dialogue process forward.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna will leave for Islamabad on Wednesday for his meeting with Pakistan counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
The visit is expected to set the ball rolling for a structured dialogue, which will reduce the post-26/11 trust deficit and take the dialogue process forward.
New Delhi hopes the visit will provide for a “real commitment” and a “workable mechanism” to address the issue of terrorism, which has imprints of Pakistan.
India will also demand Pakistan to unravel the conspiracy behind the Mumbai attacks, after which the dialogues between the two countries was called off, and bringing the plotters to justice expeditiously.
Sources in the external affairs ministry admit Islamabad will certainly raise their issue of Kashmir, as was the case when the two foreign secretaries met. But lately “commitment” has been shown to keep the dialogue process on, and thus, bring down “the levels of obduracy substantially.”
Delhi also hopes to carry forward the “engagements”, which would address issues that benefit people and economic prosperity of the region.
However, India is keen to keep dialogue on terrorism at the forefront. “The way to address terrorism and Pakistan’s action in unraveling the conspiracy in Mumbai attacks remains a kind of ‘decider factor’ for the sustainability of the dialogue process,” said a source.
Krishna briefs BJP
Krishna informed Opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley on Monday that cross-border terrorism will figure prominently in his talks. He outlined Delhi’s approach to the talks and what the government expected from the meet.
Both leaders conveyed to Krishna that the BJP did not want the Centre to downplay the issue of terrorism.
