In what is the first official engagement between the two countries after Sharif's PML (N) stormed to power, foreign minister Salman Khurshid had an unexpected bilateral meeting with Pakistan's special advisor to PM on foreign affairs Sartaz Aziz here on the sidelines of the 20th Asean Regional Forum meet.
While Aziz renewed invitation for PM Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan, he also proposed a meeting between Singh and his Pakistan counterpart on the sidelines of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly. Despite Sharif speaking positively about building ties with India during his election campaign, India has so far said nothing to suggest that it is positively considering a visit by Singh to Islamabad.
"India has shown strong desire to carry relations forward but obviously in terms of the mechanisms if we can fast track the CBMs and composite dialogue process and if they can seize the impetus at the highest political level (in Pakistan), there is no doubt in my mind that both economic relations as well as CBMs will lend further strength to the relationship," said Aziz, after the 25-minute meeting. He was replying to a query from this newspaper about whether or not India was doing enough to respond positively to the change of guard in Islamabad, the first successful transition from one democratically elected government to another.
"We have agreed for different groups to meet in the next two to three months. People-to-people contacts and visa relaxation have already been agreed upon. Trade meetings are taking place. We hope the two PMs can meet on the UNGA sidelines," he added.
Speaking after Aziz, Khurshid said the most important thing was that there already was a political will to take ties forward and find resolution to contentious issues but added that "first of all" the two countries needed to grab opportunities available on issues related to people-to-people contacts and trade. The foreign minister also said that India wants to show "specific steps" for moving forward.
"We want to proceed with joint working group meetings and we are looking for dates in July itself," said Khurshid.
Khurshid said that both sides also called for a more humanitarian approach in dealing with the issue of fishermen and that he had agreed to Aziz's proposal for more technological help in preventing fishermen from straying away from their area.
While Khurshid said that Aziz had "graciously reconveyed" the invite for Singh to visit Pakistan, he let nothing away on whether such a visit is likely anytime soon. "We cherish and value growth of democratic roots in a friendly democratic country. There was an immediate response by India on issues related to power and gas scarcity in Pakistan," he said.
Aziz also denied that Pakistan had taken any conscious decision to not allow Indian journalists to work there. He described as a routine matter the issue about denial of visa extension to an Indian journalist. "The total length of stay was longer than planned. I think the initial agreement was for four years and it went on for six," he said.
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