Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. GPS News .




THE STANS
Pakistan minister brings India message of 'peace and love'
by Staff Writers
New Delhi Dec 14, 2012


Pakistan's interior minister arrived in India on Friday with a message of "peace and love" that he said would help the nuclear-armed rivals give a fresh impetus to their fragile ties. Rehman Malik flew into New Delhi for a three-day visit that will see him formalise a new visa accord and hold security talks with his Indian counterpart Sushilkumar Shinde. "I have brought the message of peace and love from the children, women and men, old and young of Pakistan... I am here to take the peace process forward," Malik told reporters at the airport. India suspended peace talks with Islamabad after the attacks on its financial capital Mumbai four years ago. Since then, both countries have taken tentative steps to get the process back on track, focusing on basic confidence-building measures and leaving aside core territorial disputes. Malik's visit comes less than a month after India executed Pakistani-born Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the 25-year-old sole surviving gunman from the Mumbai attacks. Malik stressed the need to forget the "dark days" and expressed hope the visa accord, signed in September, would lead to more interaction between the people of both nations. "The journey towards peace is progressing very well, especially with the new visa regime, it will also bring a lot of good for us... Let us not create any negativity." The visa agreement will replace a 38-year-old restrictive travel pact between the two countries. The new rules will ease restrictions on business travel, offer visas on arrival in both countries to people over 65 years of age, guarantee "time-bound" issues of visa and other benefits, according to media reports. "When Indians enter Pakistan and Pakistanis enter India, they should feel like they are coming home," he said. Malik also said Pakistan would arrest Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the Islamist terror group blamed for the Mumbai attacks who lives openly in Pakistan, if authorities got proof of his guilt that would stand up in court. In April, the United States offered a $10 million bounty for information leading to Saeed's arrest and conviction. "We have arrested Saeed three times," Malik said, but added "court documents declared him innocent". "If there is evidence that can stand the test of courts, I am sure we have no love lost for Saeed," he said. Earlier on Friday, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid warned against too high expectations from Malik's visit, the first by a top official from Islamabad since July when Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar travelled to India. "We should not really have very, very great expectations because there are constraints and limitations," Khurshid told the Press Trust of India. "But nevertheless we will push (to improve relations)," he said.

.


Related Links
News From Across The Stans






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








THE STANS
Karzai invited to US for talks on Afghanistan's future
Kabul (AFP) Dec 14, 2012
US President Barack Obama has invited Afghan President Hamid Karzai to Washington in January for talks on the future of Afghanistan once NATO-led forces withdraw in two years, officials said. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the visit late on Thursday at a joint news conference with Karzai in the Afghan capital Kabul. Obama had asked his Afghan counterpart to meet him in the U ... read more


THE STANS
Brazil fears mad cow case will force cut in beef prices

Dead or alive? A new test to determine viability of soybean rust spores

Chemical analysis reveals first cheese making in Northern Europe in the 6th millennium BC

China, S.Africa suspend Brazil beef imports: source

THE STANS
Tiny compound semiconductor transistor could challenge silicon's dominance

Berkeley Lab Breaks Ground on Flexible Design Building to Test Low-energy Systems and Components

DuPont Microcircuit Materials Introduces New Low Cost Conductive Inks for Printed Electronics

New '4-D' transistor is preview of future computers

THE STANS
New system for aircraft forecasts potential storm hazards over oceans

Commando II Takes To Sky

Rockwell Collins wins Navy E-6b upgrade

Canada widens search for fighter jet beyond F-35

THE STANS
Ultrasound can now monitor the health of your car engine

Chinese firm to build electric cars in Bulgaria: report

Philippines gives green-light to electric tricycles

Apple Maps glitch could be deadly: Australian police

THE STANS
EU moves closer to eurozone integration

Job losses threaten U.S. innovation

Australia's resources, boom or bust?

Chinese cities becoming too costly for expats: survey

THE STANS
As Amazon urbanizes, rural fires burn unchecked

Global drive in support of Brazil's threatened Awa tribe

World's biggest, oldest trees are dying: research

'Come out of the forest' to save the trees

THE STANS
Google Maps returns to iPhone after Apple fiasco

Shadows on ice: Proba-1 images Concordia south polar base

Wildfires Light Up Western Australia

Environmental satellite produces first photo of Earth

THE STANS
Nature Materials Study: Boosting Heat Transfer With Nanoglue

New optical tweezers trap specimens just a few nanometers across

How 'transparent' is graphene?

A graphene nanotube hybrid




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement