Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister
Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said that upcoming talks with Indian
leaders and officials should lead to the resumption of the
stalled peace process between the two countries.
During a meeting with visiting British Foreign
Secretary William Hague, Gilani expressed the hope that the
talks between the Foreign Secretaries tomorrow and between the
Interior Ministers over the weekend "would pave the way for
resumption of the long-awaited peace process" between India
and Pakistan.
Gilani said Pakistan desired "friendly, good
neighbourly and cooperative relations with India" and the
resumption of the peace process "through a constructive and
result-oriented dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues
like Kashmir, water dispute, Sir Creek, Siachen as well as
terrorism."
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao arrived is
Islamabad today to hold talks tomorrow with her Pakistani
counterpart Salman Bashir.
Rao is the first senior Indian official to visit
Pakistan since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which sent
bilateral relations into a tail spin.
Home Minister P Chidambaram will arrive here on June
25 with a high-level Indian delegation to participate in a
SAARC Interior Ministers meeting.
He will also hold talks with Pakistan`s Interior
Minister Rehman Malik on the sidelines of the regional meet.
During his meeting with Hague, Gilani also said he was
hopeful that Pakistan-UK relations and cooperation in fields
like defence, trade, investment and economic aid would attain
new heights under the new British government.
Gilani told Hague of the plan prepared by the Pakistan
government for the sustainable development of the volatile
tribal belt over the next nine years and the development and
reconstruction strategy for the militancy-hit Malakand and
Swat regions.
He also stressed the need for donor countries to
deliver on their pledges to provide aid to Pakistan.
Referring to Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, Gilani
said his government wants to see Afghan society
re-establishing "its own equilibrium."
The reconciliation and reintegration process in the
neighbouring country should be "Afghan-owned and Afghan-led,"
he said.
Hague said the British government had announced an aid
package of 50 million pounds for stabilisation and
reconstruction of militancy-hit areas along the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
PTI
