Abundant patience needed in talks with Pakistan: Krishna

New Delhi: Ahead of the Foreign Secretary-level talks, India today said abundant patience and perseverence were required in dealing with Pakistan where many elements are using terror as an instrument of achieving certain objectives. External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said India had the “anxiety” of improving relations with Pakistan and there should be a sincere reciprocation from the other side which continues to have a “selective” approach towards tackling terrorism. [caption id=“attachment_358880” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Foreign Minister SM Krishna with counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar during talks in 2011.AFP”]  [/caption]He observed that there were many elements in Pakistan who use terrorism as an “instrument to achieve short-term and long-term objectives” and it was too early to judge whether the “trust deficit” had been reduced, an aspect required to be monitored on continuous basis. “While dealing with Pakistan, we need to be cautious. We need to have abundance of patience and perseverence,” Krishna said. Referring to the talks between Foreign Secretaries here on 4 and 5 July, Krishna made it clear that terrorism would be the focus of the meeting. “Whenever there is a bilateral meeting, we have always focussed on terrorism and terror-related issues. We have been impressing upon Pakistan to come out openly to declare war on terrorism which should be across the board and not selective,” the minister said during an interaction with journalists here. Noting that Pakistan has been saying that it was also a victim of terrorism, he maintained going by “whatever experience” it has had, it should join hands with India so that terrorism is eliminated. To a question on when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be visiting Pakistan, Krishna said that there was no such move in the near future. Krishna said invitations have been extended to Singh whenever he met Pakistan President or Prime Minister and as part of India’s “anxiety to normalise relations”, these factors are taken on board. However, the “availability of time” and “constraint of time” have to be factored in whenever a decision is taken on the Prime Minister’s visit to Pakistan, he said. “In principle, the invitation has been accepted… When the visit will take place, it will depend…,” the External Affairs Minister said. On his own planned visit to Pakistan which was put off due to Presidential elections here, Krishna said new dates are expected soon and the highest priority would be given to his early trip. While fielding questions on various aspects of relationship with Pakistan, he said the text of a revised visa agreement had been finalised and hoped that it would be signed at the earliest depending on mutual convenience of the two countries. Krishna favoured stability in Pakistan, saying it was in India’s own interest but refused to be drawn on the role of the Army in the decision-making processes in that country. “Our good wishes are with them,” he said. PTI