By IANS,
New Delhi : Asking Pakistan to fulfil its assurances of disbanding the terror infrastructure on its soil, India Tuesday said it was willing to go “more than half the way” to hold peace talks with the neighbour but terrorism could “not be shoved” under the carpet
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, during an interaction with visiting journalists from eastern European countries, said India was “looking forward” to Pakistan addressing its core concern regarding terrorism and tackling the outfits effectively.
“If they (Pakistan) can fulfil their assurances (regarding terror outfits), India is willing to go more than half the way to talk to them. We are looking forward to Pakistan being sensitive to our core concern of terrorism and tackling it effectively,” Krishna said in the hour-long meeting at his South Block office here.
He recalled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s repeated call to Pakistan to fulfil assurances on disallowing use of its territory by terror elements for attacking India and dismantling terrorist infrastructure identified by India, proof of which had been shared with other friendly powers.
Reiterating that India “wants friendly ties and continues to aspire for civilised” relations with Pakistan, Krishna said, “We want a stable, prosperous and friendly Pakistan as our neighbour”. At the same time, he added, “Terrorism cannot be shoved under the carpet, we have to tackle it”.
Pointing to the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 and US President Barack Obama’s visit to the megapolis to pay homage to the victims, Krishna said India and other countries lost several precious lives in the terror strike unleashed with impunity.
Referring to Manmohan Singh’s meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Bhutan during the SAARC summit and his own visit to Islamabad to interact with his counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi last year, Krishna said it was necessary to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries and these engagements were necessary to build confidence between the peoples of the two countries and send a message of unity to the terror outfits.