Manmohan Singh will visit Pakistan only if solid steps taken by the neighboring country

Manmohan Singh will visit Pakistan only if solid steps taken by the neighboring country

India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh thanked his Pakistani counterpart, Yousuf Raza Gillani for trade concessions given by Pakistan to India. However, Manmohan said that he will visit Pakistan only when some solid steps have been taken to improve the relations
between the two countries.

The neighboring countries have shared strained relations since last 64 years, after separation. They have fought three full-fledge wars and as a result both India and Pakistan spend a lot on defense and purchasing weapons, instead of working for the betterment
of their masses.

Kashmir issue has been a major thorn in the bilateral relations of Pakistan and India. Even after six decades of the controversy, it remains unresolved. Apart from that, water issue, Sirkreek and Siachen are also major point of differences between the neighboring
countries.

The situation got worse after the Mumbai terror-attack in November 2008. The incident really hampered the relations between two of the most important South Asian countries. The two countries halted their sporting relations as well since then.   

Pakistan gave a lot of trading concessions to India last year and the Indian Prime Minister thanked Gillani, when the two premiers met at Seoul.

Gillani invited Manmohan to visit Pakistan but the Indian Prime Minister feels that Pakistan must take some solid steps before moving ahead with the bilateral relations.

"I had a good meeting with him. I thanked him for the trade concessions that they have announced. He (Gilani) said when are you coming there (Pakistan). So, I said let us do something solid so that we can celebrate," Manmohan said.

India’s foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai was also accompanying Manmohan. He also expressed that the brief meeting between the two premiers was very pleasant.

Mathai revealed, “The Prime Minister congratulated Gilani and said that he appreciated the move very much. It was a pull aside, but a little more extended.”

Considering the immense poverty in South Asia, it is imperative that Pakistan and India share better relations so that the two states can work for providing food and shelter to their people instead of waging wars against one another.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=17429

Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Mar 28 2012. Filed under Pakistan, South Asia, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry