Pakistan pipes down after war of words
Pakistan appears to have piped down on Saturday after two days of acrimony with India with its leaders saying it wanted continuation of the bilateral dialogue and is serious about normalisation of Indo-Pak ties.
Both Prime Minister, Mr Yusuf Raza Gilani and the foreign minister, Mr Shah Mahmood Qureshi, made conciliatory statements on Saturday against the backdrop of the war of words between the two sides after talks between their foreign ministers on Thursday failed to make any headway.
Mr Gilani, who described the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, as an "honourable man", said "Pakistan wants the continuation of dialogue with India. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has assured me that all issues will be discussed."
Speaking on the sidelines of a function in Lahore he said, "We want talks, they (India) too want talks. When talks are held, we will discuss all issues. At this stage, I cannot say anything in the air.
He was responding to a question on the talks between the foreign minister, Mr Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and his Indian counterpart, Mr S.M. Krishna.
Mr Gilani said Mr Singh had assured him that all issues between the two countries would be discussed, an apparent reference to the meeting between the two in Thimphu on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in April.
In Islamabad, Mr Qureshi, who had yesterday blamed India for lack of progress in the talks, said today that Pakistan is "very serious" about normalising bilateral ties so that the two sides could make a "new beginning of normal relations."
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