Thaindian News

Mohali, March 30 (IANS) India Wednesday said Pakistan shared its sentiment that an atmosphere “free of terror” can only pave the way for better relations between the two countries.

“Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) reiterated the need for an atmosphere free of violence and terror in order to enable the true normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan. And let me say that Prime Minister (Yousuf Raza) Gilani shared this (sentiment),” Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.

She was speaking to reporters after a meeting between Manmohan Singh and Gilani on the sidelines of the India-Pakistan World Cup cricket semifinal match here.

Rao said the two countries “have begun this year with a very positive agenda of contact and exchange”.

“It is a good augury for the future. Indeed, this meeting today once again reaffirmed the intention of both the governments to take forward the process of dialogue.”

Rao said the dialogue “is a process with which you can understand each other. The goal is normalisation of relations, a more permanent process of normalisation in an uninterrupted manner”.

She said the meeting in Mohali happened in the backdrop of “a sporting contact that indeed epitomises the essence of people to people exchange and the spirit of a growing game.”

She said the two leaders in their wide ranging conversations, “spoke about the importance of such exchanges as those between parliamentarians”.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari and Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar have invited their Pakistani counterparts to send parliamentary delegations to India.

This, she said, “can also be a good channel for friendly channel between the two countries. It will help in many ways in the strengthening of dialogue between two democracies such as ours.”

She said the two countries have already set in motion a dialogue process and mentioned about the home secretaries of the two nations meeting in Delhi Monday and Tuesday.

“There are a number of issues flowing from that meeting which we intended to follow up on. That will also in a sense generate a positive momentum.”

Rao said the two countries would engage in a series of meetings to follow like the one between commerce secretaries next month in Islamabad.

“We will also have the meeting of foreign secretaries… This will be followed by the two foreign ministers,” she said.