Talks with Pak if its soil not used for anti-India attacks: SM Krishna

India is willing to hold sustained dialogue with Pakistan if Islamabad gives an assurance that its soil will not be used to direct terrorist attacks and foment anti-India feelings, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said today.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, Krishna said there was uninterrupted dialogue from 2004 till the Mumbai terrorist attack. "The attack in Mumbai was a point where we had to discontinue the composite dialogue," he said.

"India will be willing to hold sustained dialogue with Pakistan" if the Islamic nation was to guarantee that its "soil is not going to be directed for terrorist attacks (against India) and foment anti-India feelings," he said.

"The biggest confidence building measure that Pakistan can do is to prevent any future terrorist attack (on India) and prevent speeches made by Jihadi forces," Krishna said.

"We would like to have friendly, cordial and cooperative relations with Pakistan," he said.

The prime ministers of the two countries had in Thimpu identified trust deficit as the impeding factor which needed to be bridged.

Meeting of foreign secretaries and foreign ministers of the two countries was decided as one of the steps to lessen trust deficit.

"Our effort has been to fulfil that mandate given to us by the prime minister," he said.

Krishna said India considers Hafiz Saeed, leader of Jamaat-ud-Daawa - a Pakistani organisation having links with Lashkar-e-Taiba, as the mastermind of the Mumbai attack.

"Unfortunately, Pakistan becomes subjective whenever we bring Hafiz Saeed and others in discussion," he said. "We certainly would like Pakistan to be helpful and cooperative with India so we can live in peace with each other."

"The fulfilment, in letter and spirit, of the solemn commitment given by the leaders of Pakistan, at the highest level, of not allowing territory under Pakistan's control to be used for any terrorist activity directed against India, would be the biggest confidence building measure," he said.

Krishna said he had in his talks with foreign minister of Pakistan on July 15 stated that any further terrorist attack on India emanating from Pakistani soil would cause immense harm to the normalisation process.

He called for "credible and firm action against terrorist groups and their leaders, like the JuD and Hafiz Saeed, who continue to incite violence against India."

Krishna said he conveyed India's willingness to have further interaction on pressing humanitarian issues "as part of a step-by-step, graduated and forward looking approach to expanding dialogue to cover all issues of mutual interest and concern."

There are 582 Indian fishermen in Pakistani jails and likewise there are 412 Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails, he said adding New Delhi wants to hold dialogue on early release and repatriation of prisoners and fishermen in jails in both countries, promotion of trade and commerce and greater people-to-people contact.

During the July 15 dialogue in Islamabad, the foreign minister of Pakistan assured Krishna that his country will do everything in its power to fulfil the commitment of not allowing its territory to be used for terrorism against India.

Besides, he gave an assurance that the investigation in the Mumbai terrorist attack case, taking into account the additional information obtained from the recent interrogation of David Headley, would be pursued vigorously to unravel the full conspiracy and bring all the perpetrators to justice, he said.

"The detailed and frank discussions held during the visit enabled both the countries to develop a better understanding of each others' position and points of view on various issues," he said.

"Despite differences of opinion on the way forward on a few issues, there was a broad understanding on a number of other issues," he added.