Agencies
Washington, Nov 24: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday offered conditions talks to Pakistan to resolve all outstanding issues between the two countries including Kashmir.
“My government has invested heavily over the past few years in normalising relations with Pakistan,” Singh said in an address to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a leading US think-tank.

He recalled that the two countries had made considerable progress on the road to a durable and permanent settlement of all outstanding issues before the 26/11 Mumbai attacks stalled the peace dialogue.
“I have said that we are ready to pick up the threads of the dialogue, including on issues related to Jammu and Kashmir. We seek a South Asia of peace, friendship and prosperity, where its borders will be energised by the flow of people, goods and ideas,” he said adding, “For this to happen, Pakistan must make a break with the past, abjure terrorism and come to the table with good faith and sincerity”.
He expressed the hope that India and Pakistan can together move forward to write a new chapter in the history of the subcontinent".
Noting that the first anniversary of the heinous and barbaric terrorist attacks on Mumbai was three days away, he said: “The trauma of that attack continues to haunt us. Terrorism poses an existential threat to the civilised world and must be defeated. We should not harbour any illusions that a selective approach to terrorism, tackling it in one place while ignoring it in others, will work”.
Concerned over military hardware to Pak
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his talks with Obama administration raised the issue of American military supplies and funds to Pakistan and conveyed concerns over the diversion.
"Such equipments have been used against us in the past and we continue to have such worries. We leave it to the US to reflect fully on this issue," the Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said briefing reporters on the Prime Ministers meetings.
She said there was need for greater accountability particularly on the military aid given to Pakistan as India did not have a good experience in the past in this regard.
She said Prime Minister also highlighted India’s concerns with regard to continued threat of terrorism coming out of Pakistan and emphasised that the US and the international community should put "pressure" on it to crack down on anti-India groups and punish those responsible for the Mumbai terror attack.
Rao said the US is conscious of India’s concern and understands its position that time was not right for dialogue.
Explaining India’s inability to conduct dialogue in the present environment, Rao said unless Pakistan addresses India’s concerns on terrorism it would be difficult to carry along public opinion as in a democracy, mood of people and that of the Parliament was significant.
Talking about inaction by Pakistan with regard to prosecution of those behind Mumbai attacks, Singh said it was in the interest of both India and the US that those behind 26/11 be brought to book.
The Logistic Supports Agreement (LSA) and Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) that will enable greater cooperation between the two militaries, were also discussed in the meeting with Defense Secretary.
India said it will take some time in taking a decision on this issue.
The Prime Minister held a meeting in the morning with the Defense Secretary Robert Gates, following which he met two separate delegations of members of the US House of Representatives and the Senators.
He went to the Capitol Hill to meet the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.