The Hindu : Front Page : Ties with India have never been so good: Pakistan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007
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Ties with India have never been so good: Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

“Unrealistic to expect quick results from peace process”

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Foreign Ministry says the country’s relations with India have never been better but it will be unrealistic to expect quick results from a peace process aimed at resolving complex issues.

“The composite dialogue process is a very positive process. Pakistan-India relations have never been so good. It’s there for all of us to see,” spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said at the weekly briefing here on Monday.

Expert-level talks

In response to questions on the reported “failure to make progress” by the two sides in the just-concluded round of expert-level talks on conventional and nuclear confidence-building measures within the framework of the composite dialogue process, Mr. Sadiq said diplomacy was a process “that moves at glacial speed.”

“It’s a very complex relationship and we should not expect results overnight.”

But Mr. Sadiq said the dialogue was slow on resolving the Kashmir issue, and Pakistan would want that aspect of the composite dialogue process speeded up.

“Positive sign”

The spokesman said the good relations between the countries , compared to 2002, when troops from both sides were massed eyeball to eyeball on the borders, were “in itself a positive sign.”

Separately, a statement from the Foreign Ministry said Pakistan’s delegation at the expert-level talks emphasised the need for the two countries to leverage the improvement in mutual confidence and move towards the resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Responding to the remark by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Pakistan’s internal turmoil had slowed down the peace process, Mr. Sadiq reiterated that the domestic situation in both countries should not have any impact on the composite dialogue process. Pakistan was in an election year, and it was natural for the country to experience more political activity , he said, denying that the country was gripped by instability.

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