Pak seeks US help to push India to talk

Pakistan has asked the US to nudge India to address contentious issues in order to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries instead of looking at the distrust solely through the prism of terrorism, a media report said on Wednesday. "We want the US to encourage India to take steps for improving the human rights situation in Kashmir, moving forward on Siachen and Sir Creek and agreeing to arbitration on the Kishanganga hydropower project," a senior unnamed diplomat was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

The message was conveyed by the Pakistani leadership to the US administration through diplomatic channels even as Pakistan and India move towards a phased process worked out by their foreign ministers for building trust and confidence before the revival of peace talks suspended in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. "Our two countries do need to build mutual trust and confidence. It is therefore necessary that we engage each other with sincerity of purpose with a view to settling our differences and disputes and achieving peace and prosperity in the region," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said.

Pakistan is looking forward to a meaningful engagement with India for freeing bilateral relations from disputes, Basit said. "It is a key for both of us to first agree on the cause of trust deficit before we find ways to deal with it,"

the unnamed diplomat said. He said India's tendency to see terrorism as the only cause of distrust could complicate matters. "It is a self-delusional approach," he added. The diplomat said the realisation in India that confrontation with Pakistan "is hurting its own development" is a positive sign and could expedite the normalisation of bilateral relations.

The newspaper quoted analysts as saying that the foreign secretary-level talks in Delhi on February 25 and meetings between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Washington and Bhutan had "US support". Discussions on rebuilding trust will get underway with a meeting between the interior ministers of India and Pakistan in Islamabad on June 26 on the sidelines of the SAARC conference. The same day, the foreign secretaries will also meet in Islamabad. The two foreign ministers are set to meet on July 15. The interior ministers are expected to discuss anti-terror cooperation, diplomatic sources said.

The foreign secretaries will prepare the ground for the meeting of the foreign ministers and discuss confidence-building measures on Kashmir, the paper reported. Pakistan will bring up steps to improve the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir during these talks. It wants India to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers Act) in Jammu and Kashmir and to release all political prisoners.