India, Pak try to rebuild trust

Nov 10, 2011 - Anand K. Sahay |

Age Corespondent

Addu City (Maldives)

Meeting on the sidelines of the two-day 17th Saarc summit, which opens Thursday, external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and Pakistan’s foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar discussed trade and terrorism issues Wednesday with a view to broadening the two countries’ engagement.

The two ministers informally indicated to the media that the atmosphere was positive. Mr Krishna is learnt to have stressed the need for Pakistan to deal effectively with those responsible for mounting the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, and not allow its soil to be used by
terrorists targeting India.
Ms Khar indicated Pakistan would soon finalise its decision to offer India the “most favoured nation” trading status as a means to widen the engagement process.
Before the ministers met, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai met Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir on Tuesday to prepare the ground for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s talks on Thursday with Pakistan PM Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Senior officials of both sides are under instruction from their principals to broaden the scope of the bilateral engagement in order to curb the “trust deficit” that got highlighted when the two PMs met in Thimphu in May last year.
As part of this process, the commerce ministers of India and Pakistan are to meet later this month. A meeting of India’s home minister and Pakistan’s interior minister is planned for December, it is learnt.
Dr Singh arrived here Wednesday afternoon and was given a ceremonial welcome by Maldives President Mohammed Nasheed. He went straight into a meeting with Bhutan’s PM, and has sessions lined up Thursday with the leaders of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, besides Pakistan.

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