We want to move relationship forward with India: Qureshi

Ajay Kaul
New Delhi, Aug 9 (PTI) Notwithstanding the lack of
progress in July 15 talks, Pakistan has said it is ready to
walk the "extra mile" as it wants to "move forward" in
building relations with India but insisted that the two
countries need to be "mutually accommodative".
Pressing for a "comprehensive and sustained" engagement,
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi maintained
that Kashmir issue would have to be the part of any
discussions and "selective" approach would not be helpful.
"It is true that we have not been able to map the future
course of engagement. This, however, does not mean that we
have reached a cul de sac," Qureshi told PTI in an email
interview.
He was responding when asked whether the efforts to
bridge the trust gap had received a serious blow during his
July 15 talks with India's External Affairs Minister S M
Krishna.
The talks in Islamabad ended on a bitter note of
differences over terrorism and Kashmir, which came to the fore
at the joint press conference addressed by Qureshi and
Krishna.
"I think there is a mutual desire on both sides, at the
highest political level, to engage and talk," Qureshi said and
added that, "we are ready and prepared to go the extra mile"
to build relations.
"We need to be mutually accommodative. As in India, there
is also democracy in Pakistan. We cannot overlook our public
opinion, which on some core issues is quite strong," he said.
Disfavouring any "selective" approach, he said, "as you
would know, we have been discussing Kashmir. It is nothing new
that we brought up."
He was responding when asked whether Pakistan would not
like to have any talks with India unless Kashmir is on the
agenda as it has been terming it as its "core issue".
Pakistan wants to engage with India "in accordance with
the Thimphu spirit", he said referring to the meeting of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf
Raza Gilani in the Bhutanese capital on April 29 when they
agreed that the two countries should work to reduce trust
deficit.
"In Pakistan, we would like to see our relations with
India move forward. Let us work together," Qureshi said.
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