After tough talk on terror, India ready to restart talks with Pakistan - Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi, having unexpectedly reached out to Pakistan in a spirit of rapprochement by inviting PM Nawaz Sharif to his inauguration, didn't shy away from bringing up the prickly issues that divide the two countries even as both leaders agreed to get stalled peace talks moving and stressed the need to improve commercial ties.

Modi raised cross-border terrorism, the Herat consulate attack and the slow pace of the case related to the 2008 Mumbai attack, apart from the presence in the neighbouring country of Dawood Ibrahim, wanted in India for the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings among other crimes. At their 50-minute meeting at Hyderabad House in Delhi, Modi and Sharif decided the foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet to take the dialogue forward.

Official sources told ET that the new PM had a five-point agenda for his talks with Sharif, one of the eight South Asian leaders invited to witness Modi's swearing-in ceremony on Monday at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The prime minister "underlined our concerns related to terrorism" to Sharif, said Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, who briefed the press after the meeting. Both sides also stressed more robust business links, Singh said.

"There was discussion on trade and we noted that we were fully ready to normalise trade and economic relations. Both prime ministers expressed their interest in having this done as early as possible," Singh said. Modi said the two countries could move immediately toward full trade normalisation on the basis of the September 2012 road map. Trade between the two countries is presently around $2.5 billion, with Indian exports accounting for $1.75 billion. Sharif, also a pro-business PM, said he saw the talks as a "historic opportunity" to improve ties between the South Asian countries, which have fought three wars since Independence in 1947.

"We should rid the region of instability and insecurity that has plagued us for decades. Consequently, it is important for us to work together for peace, progress and prosperity," Sharif said. It may be recalled that Modi had stressed that talks and terror cannot go on hand in hand during his election campaign. Bharatiya Janata Party has often accused the former Congress regime and ex-PM Manmohan Singh of being soft on Pakistan. "We want peaceful and friendly relations with Pakistan. However, for such relations to proceed, it is important that terror and violence are brought to an end," the foreign secretary told reporters after the meeting.

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