External affairs minister S.M. Krishna asserted on Thursday that “acrimonial debate” and “slanging match” will not help India and Pakistan and reiterated New Delhi’s stance that it wants to engage with Islamabad.
Mr Krishna, who is scheduled to visit Islamabad in Septem-ber this year, said here that during his last meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rubani Khar, he had “frank and candid discussion” with her and that every step taken since then by both sides were “complementary”. He said, “She told me that there is positive change in the mindset of people of Pakistan vis-a-vis relations with India.”
The minister, who was in Srinagar to inaugurate a passport seva kendra, also mentioned the cordial meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari at New Delhi during the latter’s personal visit to Ajmeer and said that the trade relations and people to people contact between the two countries were also improving. Against this background, he was looking forward hopefully for his upcoming visit to the neighbouring country. Seizing the occasion, J&K CM Omar Abdullah asked Mr Krishna to take up the issue of cross-LoC trade, including removal of negative list with the Pakistani government during his visit. Mr Abdullah asserting that India-Pakistan ties directly impact the state also drew attention of the minister to the problems faced in the barter trade across the LoC.