Pakistan wants "excellent relations" with India even as the two countries work to address "core issues" like the Kashmir dispute, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said.
On the eve of the resumption of the composite dialogue process between the two countries, Gilani told a news conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh that
Pakistan "expects good from India and wants to have very good relations" with its neighbour.
"Pakistan wants to maintain excellent relations with India though "core issues have to be addressed, including Kashmir as its people want the right to self-determination", he was quoted as saying by state-run APP news agency.
The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet here tomorrow to review the fourth round of the composite dialogue held last year.
Their talks will be followed by a meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday.
Gilani, who is in Egypt to attend the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, said there was no threat to his coalition government despite the PML-N's decision to withdraw its ministers from the cabinet after failing to achieve the reinstatement of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf during last year's emergency.
He said he had not accepted the resignations of the PML-N ministers as they would hopefully rejoin the cabinet very soon after the deposed judges are reinstated.
There is also no pressure on the coalition to restore the deposed judges, who would be reinstated as soon as certain modalities are worked out.
"There is no doubt in my mind. There is no doubt in Nawaz Sharif's mind and there is no doubt in the mind of any political party that these deposed judges will have to be reinstated at the earliest," he said.
Experts are working on the modalities and will soon come up with recommendations.
Asked to give details about the modalities, Gilani said: "There is a sitting chief justice and there is another chief justice who is to be restored and naturally we have to have one chief justice. This is being worked out by constitutional experts."
A mistake has been committed by sacking the judges and it could not be repeated while restoring them, he said. "We cannot rock the boat," he said.
"I want to give this commitment at this international forum that all the deposed judges will be restored."
Replying to a question, Gilani said he had informed US President George Bush that his government has decided to follow a three-pronged strategy to deal with terrorism and extremism.