Washington: Asserting that India is committed to peace and dialogue with Pakistan, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said there is need to address "trust deficit"
between the two South Asian neighbours.
"My Prime Minister has consistently believed in the need for dialogue to seek a future of peace and cooperation with Pakistan," Krishna told Obama at a reception held in his
honour by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Krishna said he will meet his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad in July.
"The trust deficit in relations between India and Pakistan needs to be specifically addressed," Krishna said.
"The continuing threat of terrorism is a cause of great concern for us in India," he noted.
A day earlier, Krishna told Indian reporters here that he is travelling to Islamabad in July as part of New Delhi`s effort to bridge bridges with the neighbouring country.
"We are trying to build bridges with Pakistan also," he said.
The External Affairs Minister said India is "hoping to be able to eliminate the trust deficit" that it feels is between the two countries.
"High level visits are a very important part of trying to
do that," Krishna said.
Early in the morning in his opening remarks at the
Indo-US Strategic dialogue, Krishna said that the epicentre of
global terrorism lies in India`s neighbourhood.
"Though the epicentre of this threat lies in India`s
neighbourhood, it reaches far and wide all across the world as
we have seen time and again and most recently a few weeks back
in Times Square," Krishna said.
"Given the fact that the groups who preach the ideology
of hatred and violence are increasingly coalescing, sharing
resources and operating as one, it is incumbent upon all of
us, to focus our efforts laser-like on every one of them," he
said.
"Targeting only one or other of such groups would only
provide false comfort in the short term and will not usher in
long term stability," Krishna said in an apparent reference to
the reluctance of Pakistan to take strong action against
Lashkar-e-Toiba.
The US has welcomed resumption of dialogue between India
and Pakistan.
PTI
