Pak to raise ‘all core issues’ with India during Feb.25 foreign secretaries meet

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has said that it would raise ‘all core issues’ with India during the forthcoming foreign secretary level talks scheduled to take place in New Delhi on February 25.

The decision was taken during an important meeting presided over by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and attended by foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and Kashmir Parliamentary Committee Chairman Fazlur Rehman.

Sources privy to the meeting said the leadership opined that Islamabad must raise all core issues and call for their early resolution through the resumption of composite dialogueuring the upcoming deliberations.

During the meeting, Gilani told Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir that the February 25 talks should be “result-oriented and meaningful.”

Bashir said Pakistan is ready to discuss all issues, including terrorism emanating from the neighbouring soil, which has been a major concern for India.

We will go to Delhi with an open mind and steer the discussions towards a positive direction. An open-ended dialogue will take us nowhere,” Bashir said.

New Delhi had earlier made it clear that resumption of talks at any level was not possible unless Islamabad takes substantial action against Lashkar-i-Taiba (LeT) and its front face Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JuD).

India has pressing Pakistan to prosecute JuD chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, who is considered the mastermind of the ghastly Mumbai terror attacks.

The proposed foreign secretary level talks will see India and Pakistan resume deliberations after a hiatus of 14 months after 26/11. (ANI)