By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said he was close to clinching “an agreement” on all bilateral issues with then Pakistan military president Pervez Musharraf two years ago but the judiciary in that country halted that process.
“I and General (retd) Musharraf had reached an agreement in non-territorial solution to all problems but then General Musharraf got into difficulties with the chief justice (Iftikhar Chowdhary)… He said we cannot operate on all fronts and therefore the whole process came to a halt…,” Manmohan Singh told CNN-IBN in an interview.
He was referring to Pakistan lawyers’ country-wide protests in 2007, which ultimately led to the president Musharraf’s downfall. Musharraf stepped down from the post in 2008 after democratically elected government was sworn in.
The peace process between New Delhi and Islamabad came to a grounding halt last year after the Mumbai terror attack, which India alleges was sponsored and executed by elements in Pakistan.
However, Manmohan Singh said India was looking forward to Pakistan root out terror from its soil.
“I still believe we have no ill will towards Pakistan. We want Pakistan to combat Taliban. It will have our good will. Our only concern is Pakistan should cooperate in not allowing the territory of Pakistan to be used for acts of terror in our country (India),” Manmohan Singh said.