Islamabad:
Notwithstanding the recent Indo-Pak talks descending into acrimony, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday favoured the continuation of dialogue with India to discuss all outstanding issues between the two countries.
"Pakistan wants the continuation of dialogue with India. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured me that all issues will be discussed," Gilani told reporters on the sidelines of an official function at Baloki near Lahore.
"We want talks, they (India) too want talks. When talks are held, we will discuss all issues. At this stage, I cannot say anything in the air," he said in response to a question on talks between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries on July 15.(
On peace process, ball now in India's court: Gilani)
Gilani said his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh had assured him that all issues between the two countries would be discussed, an apparent reference to the meeting between the two in Thimphu on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in April.
A day after blaming India for the "last-minute hitch" in talks, even Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday that Pakistan is "very serious" about normalizing bilateral ties so that the two sides could make a "new beginning of normal relations."
"We are very serious about normalising our relations with India. I met with my Indian counterpart in Islamabad just day before yesterday. We agreed to embark on a sustained dialogue process," Qureshi said.
The decision to continue the talks is a "good augury," he said.
"For too long, Pakistan and India have been entangled in a conflictual relationship. It is high time our two countries engage, with full sincerity of purpose, to resolve all bilateral disputes and make a new beginning of normal relations anchored in sovereign equality and mutual interest," he said.
Qureshi said normal relations between Pakistan and India will have "far-reaching salutary effects" for South Asia and beyond.
"Pakistan will do its utmost to make this happen," he said in his opening remarks at a meeting of officials of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FODP) forum.
Sharp differences arose during talks between Qureshi and his Indian counterpart S M Krishna in Islamabad on Thursday over a roadmap and timeframe for future engagements.(
Indo-Pak talks: After 6-hour-long meeting, differences in public)
The two ministers engaged in verbal jousting after their talks, with Qureshi even claiming that the parleys had not gone well because Krishna repeatedly received instructions from New Delhi during the talks.
"It is the nature of India-Pakistan talks that whenever there is progress, there is always a last-minute hitch. There was no hitch from Pakistan's side," Qureshi had said on Friday.
Krishna however rejected Pakistan's contention that India was not ready to discuss all issues and asserted that all "core" and "burning" problems were deliberated upon with the aim of reducing trust deficit.