This Article is From Apr 09, 2009

Be unambiguous on terrorism, India to Pak

New Delhi: Pakistan on Friday extended a fresh invitation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit the country, saying the political environment in both the countries is ",right", to make the peace process ",result-oriented",.

",We are looking forward to his visit to Islamabad,", visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said at a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee here after wide-ranging talks.

Mukherjee spoke about the threat posed by terrorism and said both the countries have to be ",unambiguous", in fighting the menace.

",Terrorism is a threat to the stability of our respective democratic frameworks. Whatever be our political differences, we have to be unambiguous in addressing terrorist threats,", Mukherjee said.

Qureshi said there is a ",virtual consensus", on the peace process and that ",we should not miss on this opportunity",.

The political environment to make the peace process result-oriented is ",right", on both sides, he said.

",Governments have to show political will and they have to give leadership", to resolve these issues, he said adding political parties in both countries were supportive of the peace process.

Singh has agreed in principle to visit Pakistan but wants the trip to be substantive and not symbolic.

Qureshi raises pitch for IPI pipeline

A large chunk of the discussion between Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee focussed on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.

Mr Qureshi made a strong pitch for the pipeline, saying India needs to quickly make up its mind on the issue.

While price issues have more or less been sorted out, security for the project and assured gas supplies are still an issue.
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