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Pakistan asked to honour truce

COLOMBO: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told his Pakistan counterpart that India expected Pakistan to honour the ceasefire and put an end to infiltration.

Briefing journalists on Dr. Singh’s talks with Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said the Prime Minister referred to the Kabul bombing, the ceasefire violation and the increase in infiltration from Pakistani territory into Jammu & Kashmir as impediments to improving bilateral ties.

He expressed the hope that attacks like the Kabul suicide bombing would not recur.

In an informal interaction with journalists after his meeting with Dr. Singh, Mr. Gilani said that at his meeting with the Afghanistan President he would seek information on the Kabul blast.

“Within an hour after the blast, the Afghan President blamed a section of the Pakistani establishment for the incident. I would ask him to share proof and we would look into it,” he added.

Dr. Singh pointed out that the recent events would make it difficult to sustain the dialogue process and therefore the causes would have to be addressed.

He also met Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonpo Jigmi Y. Thinley and Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Fakhruddin Ahmed.

Mr. Menon said Dr. Singh and Mr. Gilani reviewed relations between the two countries and looked at the state of the dialogue process. They expressed determination on the need to overcome the impact of the recent events on the peace process.

“It was a candid and open conversation between the two Prime Ministers who wanted to see a way forward in this situation.

“There was determination on the part of the two sides to overcome recent events and move back on track to normalisation,” he added.

Asked whether the issue of serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad was raised, the Foreign Secretary said since investigations were at a preliminary stage, it was not mentioned with the kind of specificity with regard to the Kabul blast.

At his meeting with the Bangladesh Chief Adviser, Dr. Singh mentioned the positive steps taken to improve ties and discussed the need to work jointly to combat terrorism.

Dr. Ahmed observed that terrorism “recognises no borders.”

With Bhutan, Dr. Singh expressed “complete satisfaction” with all aspects of bilateral ties.

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