Muscat: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has urged India to resume composite dialogue and not let 2008 Mumbai terror incident (26-11) hold up bilateral dialogue process between the sub-continent neighbours.
Addressing a press conference for select media at the Al Bustan Palace Hotel, Gilani claimed that there was no communication gap between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and other issues. However, he agreed that there was a "lack of trust" between the two countries.
“We want to maintain excellent relations with our neighbours including India, Afghanistan, Iran, Oman and China,” he stressed in reply to a question.
The Pakistani Prime Minister stressed that his country was keen to resume dialogue process with India to resolve all outstanding issues.
Gilani said that during his discussions with the Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, he had stressed that the two countries should move forward without making Mumbai incident an issue.
“It is important for the stability of the region to resolve Kashmir issue,” reckons the Pakistan Prime Minister. He indicated that the Indian Prime Minister was ready to discuss all core issues between the two countries.
“We have persuaded all our friends to persuade India to discuss all issues,” he added.
Talking on the presence of terrorist groups along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Gilani said both Islamabad and Kabul realise they were "victims of a common enemy".
On the subject Gilani also said that his government was following a "3D policy of dialogue, development and deterrence". “We are moving in the right direction to curb the menace (terrorism).”
He also pointed out that the 3D policy of Pakistani government was successful thus terrorists were on the run. “Therefore, he added, “they (terrorists) are targeting soft targets like schools, mosques, malls, busy areas, railway stations etc.”
On his visit to Oman, the Pakistan Prime Minister said that he had discussed economic cooperation during his meetings with Sultan Qaboos and Deputy Prime Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Sayyid Fahad Bin Mehmood Al Saeed.
Gilani hopes that his visit to Oman will generate momentum to reinvigorate bilateral relations and further expand economic and trade cooperation.
He said that he had also explored with Sayyid Fahad about Free Trade Agreement with the GCC bloc.
