PM has bold vision of peace for South Asia, says Gilani

Islamabad: Lauding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's "statesmanship" and his "bold vision of peace and prosperity," Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said dialogue was the only way forward for peace in South Asia.

Responding to Singh's statement in the Lok Sabha on the Indo-Pak joint statement of Egypt, Gilani reciprocated the "sentiments for peace" expressed by him and said terrorism was a common threat to the two countries.

The Pakistani premier said the two leaders "had useful talks and a good meeting of minds" during their talks on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit at Sharm-el-Sheikh on July 16.

"We had agreed that terrorism was a common threat. We also agreed that dialogue is the only way forward," Gilani said in a statement issued by the Prime Minister's House.

He said Singh "has rightly emphasised the importance of an honourable settlement of the outstanding issues between India and Pakistan". He also commended Singh for his "bold vision of peace and prosperity in South Asia and the statesmanship that he has demonstrated".

Intervening in a debate on the Indo-Pak joint statement in Parliament on Wednesday, Singh said it was "in our vital interest to make sincere efforts to live in peace with Pakistan" and emphasised that India wanted good relations with the neighbouring country.

Singh said, "Unless we talk directly to Pakistan, we will have to rely on third parties to do so. That route has severe limitations as to its effectiveness".

He, however, added that "despite the best of intentions, we cannot move forward if terrorist attacks launched from Pakistani soil continue to kill and injure our citizens, here and abroad. That is the national position."

Asked to comment on Singh's remarks, Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said Pakistan is a victim of terrorism and its neighbour should cooperate with it in tackling the menace rather than indulging in blame games.

He said Pakistan has an open and clear policy on terrorism.

He said Pakistan will adopt a constructive approach for the forthcoming meetings with the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Minister of India and hopefully the process of composite dialogue will commence again.