Not much progress in Indo-Pak foreign ministers level talks

ISLAMABAD - Downplaying hopes of major improvements to strained Indo-Pak relationship, External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi were not much optimistic about major improvements to their stalled relationship.

India and Pakistan on Thursday termed the talks useful and promised to continue the process of improving their relationship, but avoided giving details on how they plan to tackle major obstacles to outstanding problems.

“We have agreed that this process is valuable and we will continue to meet in the future,” Qureshi told reporters at a joint press conference with Krishna after talks ran into over-time in Islamabad.

“This was a useful meeting and we have agreed to continue this engagement in days to come,” Qureshi added.

The Indian External Affairs Minister said that the foreign ministers level talks were just a beginning.

Krishna said he had a “good and constructive” dialogue with Qureshi, which would enable the two countries to develop a better understanding, adding that he had invited Qureshi to visit India.We are starting on this journey cognoscente of the complexities in our relations, the challenges that lie ahead and the promise that neighbourly relations hold” for the people of both countries, Krishna said.

Krishna reiterated India’s call for Pakistan to expedite investigations and trial of the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.

“I am going back with the hope these will be further investigated based on the leads given by Headly, and as I’ve said in my statement that, if it could help to unravel the conspiracy and if it could help in trying to go after the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack, perhaps that could be the biggest confidence building measure that could be taken,” Krishna said. (ANI)