Serious concerns have piled up in Indo-Pak ties: Khurshid

... And that composite dialogue is essentially based on the idea of confidence building and resolving those issues that are possible to resolve and not getting into intractable issues that might take much longer to resolve.A Salman Khurshid New Delhi (PTI): India on Tuesday said "serious concerns" have "piled up" in Indo-Pak ties in the backdrop of recent incidents, including killing of an Indian prisoner, which Pakistan will have to address before the two countries pick up "strands" of the composite dialogue. With various Indo-Pak interactions scheduled in past few months, including at the level of Water Secretaries, being cancelled in the aftermath of the beheading of an Indian soldier along the LoC in January, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, "We have a composite dialogue which will have to be picked up again".

Asked what was his expectations from the new government in Pakistan, Khurshid said, "There are some serious concerns that have piled up over the past few months and obviously some of those concerns will have to be addressed if we need to take all people in the country with us. "It is important to have people supporting any initiative that is taken further". He underlined that the composite dialogue has contours that both countries have decided are the best way to proceed. "And that composite dialogue is essentially based on the idea of confidence building and resolving those issues that are possible to resolve and not getting into intractable issues that might take much longer to resolve," Khurshid told PTI in an interview. "Obviously, that is where we will start off once again," he said. Khurshid noted the positive comments that Pakistan Prime Minister-disgnate Nawaz Sharif made including on speeding up the Mumbai attack case trial there, not allowing the use of Pakistani soil for anti-India activities and the need to build peace with India. Indo-Pak relations have taken a hit during the last few months in the aftermath of various incidents including the ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), beheading of an Indian soldier and the killing of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistani jail. Asked about the counter-terrorism cooperation with Saudi Arabia, where he visited, Khurshid said, "My last meeting was with the Minister for Internal Security who is very, very upbeat on India and who wants much more to happen between India and Saudi Arabia in terms of engaging on issues of counter terrorism". On the Saudi stand on Afghanistan and the red lines that India says should be adhered to while negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban, he said, "I think they are quite happy with the red lines". The international community had earlier drawn red lines under which those wanting to join talks had to abjure violence, cut links with the extremist groups and follow the Afghan constitution. Asked how many people are expected to return to India from Saudi Arabia due to the controversial 'Nitaqat' law, Khurshid said, "We are working on this. It is still too early. May be some thousands people, few thousand people will come back." He said that Afghan President Hamid Karzai during his visit to India last week "wasn't in a position to give details because I think it is still work in progress".