Pakistan pipes down after war of words

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Jul 17 (PTI) Pakistan appears to have piped
down Saturday after two days of acrimony with India with its
leaders saying it wanted continuation of the bilateral
dialogue and is serious about normalisation of Indo-Pak ties.
Both Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Foreign
Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi made conciliatory statements
on Saturday against the backdrop of the war of words between
the two sides after talks between their Foreign Ministers on
Thursday failed to make any headway.
Gilani, who described Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh as an "honourable man", said "Pakistan wants the
continuation of dialogue with India. Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh has assured me that all issues will be discussed."
Speaking on the sidelines of a function in Lahore he
said, "We want talks, they (India) too want talks. When talks
are held, we will discuss all issues. At this stage, I cannot
say anything in the air."
He was responding to a question on the talks between
the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Indian
counterpart S M Krishna.
Gilani said Singh had assured him that all issues
between the two countries would be discussed, an apparent
reference to the meeting between the two in Thimphu on the
sidelines of the SAARC summit in April.
In Islamabad, Qureshi, who had Friday blamed India
for lack of progress in the talks, said Saturday that Pakistan
is "very serious" about normalising bilateral ties so that the
two sides could make a "new beginning of normal relations."
(More) PTI RHL
KAB


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