Indo-Pak trust deficit can be reduced only through dialogue: Krishna

Washington, June 5 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said the 'trust deficit' between India and Pakistan can be reduced only through further dialogue.

Addressing media after the first ever India-US Strategic Dialogue held here, Krishna said the United States is aware of India's concern vis-à-vis Pakistan.

"There is a trust deficit between our two countries. My visit to Islamabad in July will be in order to address the trust deficit and the trust deficit can be reduced or eliminated only when we keep talking to each other, when we keep meeting each other," said Krishna.

He also said the decision for his visit to Pakistan was mutually taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani during the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit held at Thimpu, Bhutan last month.

On Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley, Krishna said that while Headley is fully covered by American laws and entitled to invoke all safeguards under those, Washington must help Indian investigators to grill him for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Access to Headley might be multiple or one time access in accordance to the American laws, he added.

"There is overwhelming evidence that Headley is one of the chief conspirators of the attack on Mumbai. And the Government of India, with all the force at its command, will put forward the plea that we should have access so that our investigations would be complete," said Krishna.

"I am sure United States understands the sensitivities involved," he added.

Krishna noted that due to the sensitive nature of the investigations, day-to-day developments could not be disclosed.

Headley, a Pakistani-American, is presently lodged in a jail in Chicago.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested him in October 2009 for plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper.

During his interrogation, he also confessed to his role in the Mumbai attacks in which Pakistan based terrorists killed 166 people.

49-year-old Headley told US interrogators that he had conducted a reconnaissance of the Mumbai sites before the attacks, having visited the country several times.

Headley has pleaded guilty on all 12 criminal counts against him, including his role in the Mumbai attacks conspiracy. (ANI)