Do not pre-judge outcome of talks with Pakistan: Krishna
By IANSThursday, July 8, 2010
NEW DELHI - A week before he meets Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Thursday struck a realistic note, saying one should not pre-judge the outcome of the new initiative that seeks to bridge trust deficit.
“Let us not pre-judge the outcome,” Krishna told reporters here days before he travels to Islamabad to hold wide-ranging talks July 15 that are widely seen as the first serious effort to resume dialogue stalled since the Mumbai terror attack.
“An initiative has been taken by Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This is primarily to reduce the trust deficit. This is a confidence building measure,” Krishna added.
He sidestepped a question on whether the dispute over the Sir Creek marshlands in the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat will figure in his discussions with Qureshi.
Manmohan Singh and Gilani met over two months ago in Bhutan and directed their foreign ministers and foreign secretaries to meet and work out the modalities of reducing trust deficit between the two countries.
Following the Thimphu thaw, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Islamabad two weeks ago to firm up the agenda for the meeting between their foreign ministers.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram also held discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik June 25 and asked Islamabad to prosecute more people involved in the Mumbai attack.
