India’s prime minister said yesterday a major diplomatic effort was under way to improve ties between India and Pakistan and that he was hopeful the talks would succeed.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s comments came three weeks after he and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani agreed to resume peace talks and work toward rebuilding trust shattered by the deadly 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that New Delhi blamed on Pakistani militants.
The two men had met at a regional summit in Bhutan.
“A major effort is being made to bridge the trust deficit with Pakistan,” Singh told reporters at a rare news conference.
“I’m hopeful this process can move forward,” he said, but later appeared to back away from his optimism, saying: “Whether we succeed or not, that only future events can tell.”
He also reiterated India’s willingness to discuss “all outstanding issues” — diplomatic code for the bitter dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir — as long as Pakistani territory is not used for attacks against India.
India and Pakistan had been under pressure to resume their peace dialogue, which had eased historic tensions although it made little headway on the key issue of Kashmir, which they both claim in entirety.
The US hopes that if tensions on the Indian subcontinent ease, Pakistan will be able to redirect more of its soldiers and military resources to fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda on its western border with Afghanistan.
Singh also reached out to the Kashmiri militant groups, saying: “Our government is ready for a dialogue provided all these groups outside the political mainstream shed the path of violence.”
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