India sees Pakistan as strategic partner,

[LahoreEstate]

Monday, June 01, 2009

says new Indian FM

NEW DELHI: India saw Pakistan as a potential strategic partner and wanted Islamabad to mend fences with New Delhi, Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna said, offering again to join the hunt with Pakistan for terrorists.

“Whether you refer to Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal or our immediate big neighbour China, we have our problems, but we also have our lasting friendship with all of them,”Krishna told the CNN-IBN news channel.

“We want a strategic partnership with all these countries, so that we can live in peace. Development could be our mantra or the engine, which will drive us,” he added. “What was happening in Sri Lanka was internal strife, but what is happening in Pakistan is the territory of Pakistan being used repeatedly to assault India,” he said.

“So we feel that Pakistan should have the commitment and determination to fight terror and India is going to partner with them in fighting terror in both Pakistan and India,” he added.He was questioned: “Was it possible to expect the composite dialogue to resume anytime soon, given the backdrop of Mumbai?” Krishna responded: “We, as a country, would like to be in peace with Pakistan. We would want to have friendly relations with them. Every time we have reached certain critical stage something like this happens. 26/11 happened at a time when the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan was moving in a particular direction and we were pleased with the development. And then suddenly this heinous crime against India was perpetrated.”

He regretted the fact that Pakistan had initially failed to accept that the perpetrators were its citizens or that the plan to attack Mumbai was hatched and executed from there. “And ultimately Pakistan conceded the fact that they were all Pakistanis and the one who is in our custody is a Pakistani. Such being the case, it will become extremely difficult for India to continue the composite dialogue unless Pakistan brings all those perpetrators of that crime to book. Then perhaps there is a possibility that we can move along the composite dialogue.” The Mumbai affair had a negative impact on bilateral ties and the dialogue had come to a halt, Krishna admitted

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22473