India, Pak owe to next generation not to carry historical baggage of history: Khar

Phnom Penh (Cambodia), July 12 (ANI): Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Thursday said that India and Pakistan owe it to the next generations not to carry the burden of a relationship which is hostile, which is based on maligning each other.

Rather, she said that leaderships of both countries should promote a relationship based on "national interest, on realities and, on solving the disputes we have among ourselves on the negotiation table."

Khar said it was important that people see what the two nations have achieved in the last three years and not be bogged down by following the same policy in the next 60 years.

The Pakistan foreign minister reiterated that Pakistan had sent a clear message to India that both nations needed to move forward and needed to build this relationship on trust and achieve results which had not been achieved through hostility.

Referring to her meetings with Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna, Khar said that in certain matters now, both countries have been able to achieve the impossible through dialogue.

Khar also said that the problem of terrorism was common to both India and Pakistan, and as the first ones to suffer, the two countries should look at it as a regional menace and deal with this menace both regionally and bilaterally.

She said both countries were committed to assisting each other in whichever way possible in dealing with this menace. The first step towards this was that the two countries can share information as a confidence building measure.

She also said that both countries followed a similar system and it meant that both know what is required to try somebody and what is not.

She reiterated that Pakistan meant what it said. By sharing information, both countries can show that they are serious about the issue rather than make an issue out of the issue.

On Krishna's appreciation of the care given by the Pakistan authorities to passengers of the Air India flight, which made an emergency landing in Pakistan recently, Khar said the Indian foreign minister had conveyed his thanks to her personally.

She said both countries can get used to new norms and there was no thanks required. "This is the new norm", she said.

Earlier, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met all foreign ministers attending the 45th ASEAN ministerial meet. By Ajitha Menon (ANI)