Ghaziabad: Terming as “unofficial” Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s visit to India, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday said success in bilateral issues involving the two neighbours is a time taking affair.
The Minister also said that he would not be able to give a time frame as to when official talks between the two nations could take place in the future.
“Success (in issues related to India and Pakistan) is not achieved in a day or a moment. First the foundation is made and then we subsequently go ahead to create an edifice,” Khurshid, who officiated as the chief guest at the Raising Day celebrations of paramilitary CISF here, said.
He was asked if there was any progress in bilateral issues after he met the Pakistan Prime Minister in Jaipur yesterday. Khurshid maintained that the visit of the Pakistani Prime Minister was “not an official” trip and it was a courtesy extended by the Indian government when Ashraf desired to visit the Sufi shrine in Ajmer along with his family.
“It is courtesy that one is allowed to go to his place of prayer for the peace of the soul and mind…Similarly when people from India want to visit a gurudwara for pilgrimage in Pakistan that is a courtesy,” he said.
Khurshid, who flew in an IAF helicopter to the CISF base in Ghaziabad’s Indirapuram for the event, said he would not be able to give a time frame as to when official talks between the two nations could take place in the future.
During his visit to India yesterday, Ashraf offered prayers at the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer and met Khurshid who had hosted lunch for him in Jaipur. (PTI)