Indian prime minister ties Pakistan visit to "tangible results"

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, Thursday tied his visit to Pakistan with tangible results, Geo News reported,

Singh said that his side was giving a serious thought to schedule his visit to Pakistan, but what good such a tour would be if it did not pay off.

“I believe a visit to Pakistan that does not bear fruit would be of no use”, said he.

This statement comes on the same day when Indian foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai and his Pakistan counterpart, Jalil Abbas Jilani held talks in New Delhi.

While both the sides seemed keen to continue with the talks, they are yet to arrive at an agreement on core issues — something that would infuse momentum in the dialogue process and pave the way for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan.

According to Indian media, terrorism remains the core issue for India, Pakistan would like to get a concession from India on the issue of Siachen and Jammu & Kashmir.

Singh’s visit would go a long way in bringing both the neighbours to the table to settle their outstanding issues, anlysts say.

Earlier, Pakistan rejected the renewed Indian charges that Pakistani "state actors" were involved in planning and coordinating the 2008 Mumbai attacks and offered a joint probe into the incidents.

"I would very strongly reject any insinuation of any involvement of any state agency in acts of terrorism in India," Pakistani Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani told reporters after talks with his Indian counterpart Ranjan Mathai.

He told the media persons that the two-day meeting discussed matters related to terrorism and peace.

'The issue of Abu Jindal was also raised by the Indian side and we have made it clear that State of Pakistan has no role in terror activities in India. We consider terrorism a common enemy.'

"If we keep accusing each other, that will be of no benefit, and we will not find any result," he added. Jilani insisted that nothing should be allowed to prevent the peace process going forward.

"There should be absolutely no setback, because a setback is something we cannot afford," he said.

Speaking after his talks with Jilani, Mathai stressed that bringing those guilty for the Mumbai carnage to justice "would be the biggest confidence-building measure of all".

"We shall pursue this matter to its logical conclusion," Mathai said of the Indian investigation into Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari's testimony.

Mathai said Pakistan was provided more evidences regarding Mumbai attacks.

The two top civil servants in their respective ministries held two days of talks in New Delhi to bolster a peace dialogue.