‘Need patience while dealing with Pak’

Pressing Pakistan hard on delivering on terrorism, India on Wednesday said abundant patience and perseverence were required in dealing with the neighbour where many elements are using terror as an instrument for achieving certain objectives.

Pressing Pakistan hard on delivering on terrorism, India on Wednesday said abundant patience and perseverence were required in dealing with the neighbour where many elements are using terror as an instrument for achieving certain objectives.

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External affairs minister SM Krishna said India had the “anxiety” in improving relations with Pakistan and there should be a sincere reciprocation from the other side which continues to have a “selective” approach towards tackling terrorism.

Krishna also said it was too early to judge whether the “trust deficit” had been reduced, adding that it was an aspect that required to be monitored on continuous basis.

“While dealing with Pakistan, we need to be cautious. We need to have abundant patience and perseverence,” he said.

Referring to the talks between foreign secretaries here on July 4 and 5, Krishna made it clear that terrorism would be a major focus area of the discussions.

“Whenever there is a bilateral meeting, we have always focussed on terrorism and terror-related issues. We have been impressing upon Pakistan to come out openly to declare war on terrorism,” the minister said.

To a question on when PM Manmohan Singh would be visiting Pakistan, Krishna said that there was no such move in the near future.

He said the “availability of time” and “constraint of time” have to be factored in whenever a decision is taken on the prime minister’s visit to Pakistan, he said.