Pak wants to resume dialogue with India as soon as possible

Yekaterinburg (Russia), June 16 (ANI): Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi today said that the most sensible thing would be to resume dialogue with India as soon as possible.

As the leaders of India and Pakistan met for the first time since the Mumbai terror attacks took place on November 26 last year, the talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Asif Ali Zardari is seen as a start in allowing both countries to repair relations.

Qureshi told reporters in Yekaterinburg that it is in mutual interest of the two countries to resume the stalled dialogue between two nuclear-armed nations.

"I think the most sensible thing would be to resume the dialogue as soon as possible. It is in our mutual interest to do so," said Qureshi.

The Pakistan's Foreign Minister added that terrorism is not country specific and has to be dealt with unitedly in a decisive manner.

"Terrorism is not country specific. It is not geared to a particular people. We in Pakistan are victims are of terrorism. Our people, our economy are affected. And we as a nation have decided to deal with this menace in a decisive manner.

"And that is why people have moved, the government has moved in an effective manner. And you also see that there has been lot of internal dislocations and we are paying a price. And its the price worth paying," said Qureshi.

Stressing on building a consensus, Qureshi added that all the leaders present at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Russia have agreed for regional cooperation against terrorism.

"We all agree that we have to condemn and fight terrorism. Then might it be born from any part of the world be in India, Pakistan, Britain, America, you see the theme and the primary objective of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) was to build consensus against terrorism, extremism, and to promote a cooperative regional environment," said Qureshi.

Reacting to the release of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Qureshi said that it is an independent decision of the judiciary and should be respected.

"As you know in Pakistan like in India courts are independent. It's an independent decision of judiciary and we have to respect the decision of the judiciary like you do," said Qureshi.

Pakistan wants to resume a 5-year-old peace process, but India has said it wants Islamabad to take further action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba first. (ANI)