Pakistan on Wednesday said the sequencing of upcoming Indo-Pak discussions on outstanding issues should not be intended at taking "unilateral advantage" or "scoring points", a day after India maintained that there will be sequencing of interactions on issues, including terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir and Siachen.
Asserting that both countries have to act "responsibly", Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said, "we need to create a right atmosphere".
"We need to change the atmosphere from one of bickering and acrimony to good.... We have been successful so far," he said while commenting on meeting with his counterpart Nirupama Rao where both sides agreed to have a series of interactions to discuss outstanding issues over the next few months before Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's visit to New Delhi in the middle of this year.
Rao had said the various identified issues would be discussed over the next few months in a sequence which she refused to specify.
"It is a ladder, we have to climb. There will be a sequence. Obviously, it will have to be a sequence. The things which need to be done quickly, will be done first. The things which need more preparation will be done a little later. But we hope to have all this well in place before the visit of Foreign Minister Qureshi (to Delhi)," she said.
Asked how Pakistan would like to do sequencing of the outstanding issues during the interactions ahead of the visit, Bashir said "we are trying to work that out in a manner so that it doesn't mean point scoring or one upmanship... The intention should not be to score point or take unilateral advantage."
{{/usCountry}}Asked how Pakistan would like to do sequencing of the outstanding issues during the interactions ahead of the visit, Bashir said "we are trying to work that out in a manner so that it doesn't mean point scoring or one upmanship... The intention should not be to score point or take unilateral advantage."
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