On Board Air India One, Nov 13 : Believing that Pakistan Army is on board on the peace process, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said he was not putting “blind faith” in his counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani who has clearly understood that another Mumbai-type attack would give a big setback.
Singh, who met Gilani in Maldives on Thursday and decided to write a “new chapter” in the bilateral ties, made it clear that India would adopt a “trust but verify” approach as he acknowledged that the relationship was prone to “accidents”.
Making it clear that India wanted to strengthen the hands of Pakistan's civilian government, he said he saw in Gilani “a man who is willing to work with us” and shares the view that terrorism is a common enemy.
Singh said he had “left Prime Minister (Gilani) in no doubt (that) if the Indian public opinion is not satisfied that justice is done to those responsible for the barbaric act at Mumbai, the peace process cannot move forward.” Replying to questions from journalists while returning from Maldives on his meeting with Gilani, Singh said, “I would not not like to go into the details in this matter.
But I did discuss with Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani whether Pakistan's armed forces were on board, the feeling I got was that after a long time, Pakistan's armed forces are on board.” On the prospect of dialogue set to resume very shortly, he said it will have the “advantage of a more informed dialogue. What will be the outcome of that dialogue, I am optimistic. “But India-Pakistan relations are subject to accidents, and therefore we both recognise that if there is another incident like the Mumbai-terror attack, that could give a big setback to the process of normalisation, I think that is fully understood by Prime Minister Gilani.”
He said his visit to Pakistan would take place only when Pakistan takes solid steps against the Mumbai terror attack accused in that country.
