The External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna is leaving for Islamabad on Wednesday on a three-day visit to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries. He will also explore ways of resuming substantive dialogue between India and Pakistan. <br/><br/>An External Affairs Ministry press release said that the visit is in pursuance of the mandate given by the two Prime Ministers during their meeting at Thimphu in April, this year. The Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan had asked the foreign ministers and foreign secretaries of the their countries to work out the modalities of restoring trust and confidence in the relationship. <br/><br/>This is the first visit by an Indian External Affairs Minister to Pakistan since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Mr Krishna will hold wide-ranging talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi. <br/><br/>The talks are expected to review the progress made by Pakistan in prosecuting the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack and India's core concerns on terrorist groups targeting Indian interests and assets from the Pakistani territory. The meeting will build on the talks held between the two Foreign Secretaries and the Home Ministers in Islamabad last month.<br/><br/>During these talks, Pakistan conveyed that it will act with full force to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to justice and address India's concerns over terrorism. Exhorting Pakistan to move beyond the nomenclature, India has made it clear that the forthcoming talks should not be construed as the resumption of composite dialogue. <br/><br/>AIR correspondent reports that India's approach to these talks is incremental and will wait to see concrete action from Pakistan and the 26/11 trial before enlarging the scope of dialogue.
News On AIR | July 12, 2010 8:06 PM
S.M. Krishna leaving for Islamabad on Wednesday on a three-day visit to bridge trust deficit