No meeting scheduled yet with Indian prime minister: Gilani

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated:

The Pakistan prime minister said while no meeting was scheduled with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh at the moment, but "lets see when we visit Bhutan".

Ahead of the upcoming Saarc summit, Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that no meeting has yet been fixed with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, though both leaders are scheduled to travel to Bhutan for the meet.

Ruing the breakdown of the composite dialogue in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack, Gilani said his country wanted to ensure India that perpetrators of the incident would be brought to justice, APP reported.

In an interview with French daily Le Figaro, Gilani said while no meeting was acheduled with Singh at the moment, but "lets see when we visit Bhutan".

"We were smoothly working on composite dialogue with India. But after that incident (Mumbai) the composite dialogue had been stalled," Gilani said on Indo-Pak ties.

However, he added that he had a positive meeting with Singh in Sharm-el-Sheikh, APP said quoting his interview to the French daily.

Singh and Gilani held brief encounters at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington last week but no meeting was held.

Gilani said Pakistan can play a pivotal role for Afghanistan's stability as a stable Afghanistan is in its interest.

"Afghan president Hamid Karzai did call on us and he had strategy for reconciliation and now we had to see his plan and of course with the US and we both can see his plan and vision and wanted a home-made solution to the Afghan issue," he said.

Asked about the arrest of Taliban leader Mulla Baradar and others, Gilani said there was no distinction between good and bad Taliban. "The terrorists have no religion, they are enemies of the humanity and we are against them," he said.

Gilani said Pakistan has conveyed its displeasure over US drone strikes in its territory and made clear that they were counter-productive.

"We have conveyed our concern as it is counter productive and the US is looking into it and now they get back to us what sort of solution can be worked out between the two countries," he said, adding if the drone technology is used by Pakistan it would be more productive.

Reiterating that Pakistan's nuclear programme and installations are safe, he said the world has appreciated our nuclear programme and its security.

About any deal with the US for civil nuclear technology, he said, "Our discussion is still going on but at the moment we are just discussing it and there is nothing concrete".

He also expressed optimism that the landmark constitutional amendment bill will facilitate democracy.

Referring to the UN-affiliated panel's report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, he said legal experts are examining the report and a decision will be taken.