Ties with Pakistan vital, says Manmohan

NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on Thursday told the Lok Sabha that his Government attached great importance to normalisation of relations with Pakistan and that it sincerely desired to find mutually acceptable solutions to all outstanding issues.

Intervening in a debate on his suo motu statement on the visits of the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, and the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, to India, Dr. Singh said he told Gen. Musharraf that he would not be able to take the country's public opinion with him in continuing the current composite dialogue process if repeated terrorist acts against innocent men, women and children continued.

The Prime Minister was responding to members' concerns on the need for cessation of cross-border terrorism.

Need for alertness


He said India welcomed the pledge made by Gen. Musharraf not to allow terrorism to come in the way of the bilateral peace process and that both were committed to making the peace process "truly irreversible.'' However, he said, much would depend on the actual ground situation with regard to cross-border infiltration.

On the Baglihar dam issue, he said the reference (by Pakistan) to World Bank was premature since further technical discussions with Indian experts could have led to narrowing down of differences. He asserted that India had never violated the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.

Vital stake in Nepal


Referring to Nepal, he said, India had a vital stake in the security and development of the country with which it enjoyed old ties of culture and civilisation. The only concern of India was that Nepal should approach a new era of modernisation with a strong commitment to constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy.

As for Bangladesh, he said, India was concerned over the use of territory there by Indian insurgent groups and hoped that both countries worked together to resolve these issues.

He said the Government attached great importance to the development of relations with China and that there was scope for expansion of economic interaction with the neighbour..

Referring to the United States, the Prime Minister said the two countries were poised for a major and significant upgrading of relations in the coming days