The PM said it was his “firm belief” that India could not realise its full potential unless “we have the best possible relations with our neighbours, and Pakistan happens to be our largest neighbour”.
Having decided in Thimpu to engage with Pakistan, prime minister (PM) Manmohan Singh hoped to convince the people of India about the imperatives of making peace with its largest neighbour.
Much like former PM Vajpayee before Lahore and again ahead of the Agra summit, Singh, though not as eloquently as the BJP stalwart, said peace and stability was the recipe for prosperity in the region.
PM said it was his “firm belief” that India could not realise its full potential unless “we have the best possible relations with our neighbours, and Pakistan happens to be our largest neighbour”.
It is significant that when China decided growth would get precedence over ideology, it spent much time and effort in solving outstanding problems with neighbours.
“Improving relations with neighbours continues to be of great importance to us. I have often said our real challenges are at home and in our neighbourhood,” PM said.
Yet, with India-Pakistan relations being what they are, he candidly admitted that he did not know exactly where the peace talks would lead, but he was willing to give peace a chance. “Our common endeavour is to bridge or reduce this trust deficit. That is why we agreed that our foreign ministers will meet.”
Foreign minister SM Krishna is travelling to Islamabad on July 15 to try and reboot the peace process stalled after 26/11.
PM realises he is taking a political risk in going ahead with the talks again. “PM has said nothing new. His commitment to peace is known. But here, by talking about trust deficit, he is not setting preconditions. It is no longer ‘unless you do this, we will not talk’, but a more cautious evenhanded approach which makes it easier for his counterpart too,” former foreign secretary Salman Haider said.
Another former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh also said PM had said nothing new.
“We will get a better idea of how things are moving after home minister P Chidambaram returns from Pakistan [he is going there on May 26]. If Chidambaram is not satisfied with what Islamabad has done so far, the process will not move forward,” he said.
When Krishna goes to Washington for the strategic dialogue with US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, India will get a fair idea of Pakistan’s motives and if they want peace, Mansingh said.
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