Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi says he had received positive vibes from his Indian counterpart about how to take forward their relationship and peace talks stalled by the November 26 Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi says he had received positive vibes from his Indian counterpart about how to take forward their relationship and peace talks stalled by the November 26 Mumbai terror attacks.
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The September 27 meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna in New York was "in my view, a positive meeting, a constructive meeting," he told reporters Tuesday after a meeting here with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"And being a politician, I can read between the lines and I can tell you I got positive vibes, because my message was positive, my engagement was positive, my intentions are positive," Qureshi said when asked if New Delhi was prepared to respond to proposals for resuming their composite dialogue.
"And I've suggested a way forward, and I saw nothing in him where he could disagree with me. He was in total agreement with my message," he said.
"And obviously, he's going to go back and consult with the leadership in Delhi and we'll take it from there. But I have suggested a way forward."
After his 100-minute meeting with Qureshi in New York, Krishna had told the media that India had demanded concrete action against Pakistan-based terror groups and made it clear that an environment free of violence and terrorism was essential for the success of a meaningful dialogue process.
"We told Pakistan that India still has serious concerns about the threat which groups and individuals in Pakistan continue to pose to us," Krishna said after what he described as "a useful, constructive and candid exchange of views on the present situation in our bilateral relations."
He had thus underlined and reiterated "that concrete and effective steps against these individuals and entities can instill in us the confidence that commitments given by Pakistan that it would not allow its soil to be used for terrorist attacks against India would be adhered to."
Krishna said they both agreed that the future direction in their bilateral relations has to be one of deeper, sustained and meaningful relations.