Pakistan welcomed on Friday the remarks of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about opening a new chapter in relationship between the two countries and New Delhi's readiness for a broad-ranging engagement to resolve outstanding issues.
"Pakistan has positively evaluated the talks and welcomed India's readiness for a broad-ranging engagement," the Foreign Office quoted Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar as saying while commenting on the talks between Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Addu, Maldives on the sidelines of 17th SAARC Summit.
After the meeting Singh said: "The time has come to write a new chapter in the history of the two countries and the era of accusations and counter-accusations should be left behind us". Prime Minister Gilani also hoped that the next round of talks would be more constructive and would open a new chapter in relations between the two countries.
The second important interaction of this year in Maldives between the two premiers following their meeting in Mohali on the occasion of Pakistan-India cricket World Cup semi-final match, was also welcomed by Washington with the remarks from State Department saying that co-operation between the two neighbours was going to benefit the region as a whole.
"We have said many, many, many times from this podium that we support constructive dialogue between the two countries," State Department spokesperson Mark Toner told media persons in Washington on Thursday. Foreign Minister Khar was saying confidently that the bilateral summit in the Maldives had contributed to impel a seriousness of purpose to the process of engagement with both sides reaffirming their commitment to the pursuit of peace and discussing all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir in a result-oriented manner.
To resolve the issues through dialogue, Khar said that it had been agreed to finalise the calendar of meetings between the delegations of the two countries. Both sides had also agreed to convene technical working groups prior to the holding of Pakistan India Joint Commission, she added. "Both leaders noted that terrorism is a common problem. Instead of remaining mired in accusations and counter accusations, the real way forward is co-operation," the Foreign Minister was quoted as saying.
Interior and Home Secretaries of the two countries have been mandated to discuss the issues like 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Samjhauta Express blast, counter terrorism and counter narcotics measures. "Mumbai, Samjhota and other terror related matters needed to be addressed by both sides in the Interior/Home ministries segment," Khar said, adding that Pakistan's Interior minister was prepared to visit New Delhi and was awaiting dates for the visit from India. She further said that that Pakistan also awaited dates for the visit of the Judicial Commission from India (on 26/11 incident).