By Manish Chand, IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in the Maldives Thursday with India maintaining that justice for 26/11 victims was not a “lost cause” and hoping for progress in ties that received a fillip when Islamabad granted it the most favoured nation (MFN) status.
Manmohan Singh will meet Gilani at Hotel Shangri La in the picturesque Addu Atoll Thursday morning.
“They will be looking at the entire gamut of the relationship and discuss how to take it forward,” official sources said as Manmohan Singh headed for the Maldives to take part in the 17th SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit.
The sources took positive note of the MFN status granted by Pakistan to India after New Delhi granted similar status to Islamabad 15 years ago.
They also stressed that “considerable progress” had been made since the two prime ministers met in Thimphu in April last year.
The two leaders also met in Mohali March 30 during the India-Pakistan Cricket World Cup semi-final.
“We have made considerable progress. There are big issues like 26/11 and terrorism that lead to trust deficit. We are on track to reduce the trust deficit on these issues,” said sources.
At Thursday’s talks, India will press for justice for victims of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack but the focus will be on carrying forward the peace process, given a fresh momentum with the MFN status and hopes of trade liberalisation between the two countries.
“It’s not a lost cause as far as we are concerned,” one official said.
Amid conflicting statements from Islamabad on grant of MFN status, the sources said New Delhi was hopeful that it would become operational soon.
“There is tremendous interest among the business community in Pakistan about greater trade with India barring some sectors where there is some nervousness,” said the sources.
By and large there was consensus in Pakistan that trade with India needed to be opened up, said the sources, adding that Islamabad realised that the fear of Indian goods swamping Pakistan markets was unfounded.
There was no groundswell of opposition in Pakistan to the MFN to India, added the sources.
Currently, legal bilateral trade between India and Pakistan is estimated at $2.7 billion; total trade, including through third countries like Dubai, Singapore and Sri Lanka, could be as high as $6 billion.
The grant of MFN status, the sources said, could lead to a quantum jump in trade between the two countries, which froze the dialogue process after the Mumbai terror attack and resumed only in March this year.
Ahead of the meeting, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai noted that there have been “some positive indicators in the last few weeks” like Pakistan’s quick action in releasing an Indian military helicopter and crew within hours after it strayed into the Pakistani territory last month and the granting of the Most Favoured Nation status to India.
Taking note of “indications of forward movement” in bilateral relations, Mathai had said that all aspects of bilateral relations will be discussed.
Manmohan Singh will also meet Bhutan Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinley Wednesday evening and Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Thursday before the two-day SAARC summit kicks off.
The 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit has an overarching theme of “Building Bridges” and is expected to give fresh momentum to economic integration of South Asia, home to over one-fifth of the world’s population.
The eight-nation summit will culminate in a joint declaration Friday and four agreements, that include a pact on creating a seed bank to boost agricultural productivity and another pact on setting up a rapid action force to deal with natural disasters like cyclone and quakes.
(Manish Chand can be contacted at [email protected])