New Delhi: Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday reached Pakistan capital Islamabad on a two-day visit igniting hopes of the two nuclear neighbours burying their bitter past and give peace a chance.
Although Chidambaram is in Islamabad to attend the Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) interior ministers' meeting which gets under way on Saturday, the focus is more on the Chidambaram's meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malek, success of which may pave the path for fostering closer ties between the two countries.
Other Saarc member countries have been putting pressure on the two South Asian giants to resolve their differences as it was having negative impact on the entire region.
This is the first Pakistan visit by a senior India minister after the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai in 2008.
Chidambaram's Islamabad visit comes a day after Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao concluded her Pakistan trip during which she discussed the future path of Indo-Pakistan talks with her counterpart Salman Bashir.
Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna is slated to visit Islamabad next month to officially begin ministerial-level talks between the two countries.
Trust deficit
Indian and Pakistani prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani had underlined the need to overcome trust deficit between the two countries when they met on the sidelines of May Saarc summit held at Thimphu in Bhutan.
The Chidambaram-Malik meeting was expected to focus mainly on terrorism, especially those emanating from the Pakistani soil as also the action New Delhi has been pressing for against the masterminds of 26/11 Mumbai attack.
Home Ministry sources here said Chidambaram would press for prosecution of Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi and the JuD founder Hafiz Saeed along with the handlers who directed the Mumbai attackers.
The reports coming in from Pakistan suggest that Chidambaram sought details of the Pakistani government's endeavour to bring to justice the masterminds of Mumbai terror attack.
Malek on his part tried to set the tone for the crucial talks by suggesting that instead of exchanging dossiers, the two nations should exchange hearts.
"Let's exchange hearts and not dossiers. We are meeting with a clean slate," Malek was quoted as saying by a news channel, adding that he would satisfy India's concern over Saeed and terrorism.
