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  • Sep 30th, 2013
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India on Sunday described the meeting between Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Manmohan Singh as "constructive and useful," after the two South Asian leaders held bilateral talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. India's National Security Advisor, Shiv Shankar Menon said the two sides agreed on the need to enforce cease-fire along the Line of Control (LoC).

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited Prime Minister Sharif to visit India and the Pakistani leader also invited Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan.

He told a post-meeting press conference that the two leaders accepted the invitations but no time has been set for the visits.

Peace and tranquillity on the Line of Control is a pre-requisite for any progress in the stalled peace process between the two nations, Menon added.

He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also raised issues of Siachen and Sir Creek.

Menon said the two leaders decided to task their respective DGMOs to suggest effective means to enforce cease-fire on LoC.

According to the Indian advisor, the two leaders reviewed the sate of relations and discussed what steps are necessary for going forward.

India also brought up the issue of bringing justice to Mumbai 2008 bombing perpetrators.

Menon told journalists that Pakistan said it intended to follow the case now that the judicial commission is back from India.

Balochistan was also mentioned in the meeting, he said, adding there is no question of India interfering in Pakistan's internal affairs.

"My impression it was a useful and constructive meeting."

"We need to fix the issues first in order to move" forward, he said, noting there is a desire on both sides to move forward.

"We can work hard in the next few months," he said, when pressed if the two sides discussed specific steps that could help revival of composite dialogue and peace process.

"Today, we have to deal with the overwhelming issue on the Line of Control, we dealt with the immediate task (of addressing issues)."

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2013


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