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| Will Singh-Gilani meet reduce trust deficit level? | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Nov 9: If India's External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna's latest statement is to be relied on the trust deficit between India and Pakistan has started "shrinking."
Without substantiating his claim Krishna has stated that the trust level between the two countries "has gone up." Possibly by claiming that the trust deficit level has started declining Krishna wants to set the stage for the talks between Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and his Pakistani counterpart, Yousuf Raza Gilani, on the sidelines of the SAARC meet in Maldives on Thursday.
Krishna was so careful in weighing his words that he simply urged Pakistan to take action against terrorists in reply to a question whether terror training camps still existed in Pakistan.
Singh is likely to hold one-to-one meet with a number of heads of countries participating in the SAARC meet but his meeting with Gilani is treated as the most important engagement for Manmohan Singh in Maldives.
Since the two will be meeting after a gap of over seven months Manmohan Singh and Gilani may exchange notes on the developments that have taken place in the south Asian region during the last over six months, especially those related to Islamabad's action against terrorists, including those whose list has been submitted to Pakistan Government.
When Krishna talks about positive atmosphere he presumably refers to the absence of any major development that could have caused fresh strains in the already fragile relations between India and Pakistan. On the basis of the perceived positive atmosphere Krishna hopes that the Singh -Gilani meeting would mark a beginning for some forward movement.
Besides terrorism Singh and Gilani may lay emphasis on promotion of trade and travel between the two sides. And Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to utilise the meeting for persuading Gilani to hasten the implementation of Islamabad's recent announcement on granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India.
Belatedly Islamabad has realised that delay in granting MFN status to India had proved disastrous for Pakistan as it had forced the country to suffer an annual loss to the tune of two billion dollars. The reason for this loss has been simple.
Pakistan has been importing 1934 items from India against over 6,000 from other countries. Invariably some of the goods manufactured in India are imported by Pakistan via Dubai which is highly costly. If Pakistan drops trade restrictions with India it can save over on billion dollars a year.
It is believed that Islamabad may not be influenced by separatists on either side of the LOC wishing Pakistan to lay emphasis on settlement of the Kashmir issue instead of giving preference to trade and travel. The Kashmiri separatists do not want Islamabad to delink trade from the Kashmir issue. |
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