Indo-Pak talks: External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to make statement in Parliament

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will make a statement in both houses of Parliament this week on the outcome of the high-profile talks he had with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar.

"With reference to various issues that we discussed with Khar during the course of her interaction would be subject matter of a suo-moto statement that I am going to make this week in both houses of Parliament," Krishna said.

The talks held on July 27 yielded new Confidence Building Measures including increasing cross-LoC trading days and expanding travel to include tourism and religious aspects apart from relaxing permit conditions for travel by people of Jammu and Kashmir to the other side of LoC by having a system of six-month multiple entry.

The two ministers had discussed Jammu and Kashmir, counter-terrorism measures, including progress in the Mumbai attacks trial in Pakistan, humanitarian issues, commercial and economic cooperation, Sir Creek, Siachen, peace and security including CBMs and promotion of friendly exchanges.

Asked whether he found any perceptible change in the approach of Pakistan in resolving outstanding issues as the young Khar asserted that bilateral ties should not be held hostage to history, Krishna said, "One has to wait and see on how the relationship" evolves.