“People-to-people contact being limited, taking place off and on. One working group meeting and discussing this and that but not a whole integrated approach to relationship. That is needed because that makes its durable, that makes its sustainable.
“Obviously, some issues would move faster and some won't move that fast,” Aslam said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had said the decision of granting NDMA status to India was put off due to “lack of consensus”.
“We also deferred this due to the elections in India because we did not want to favour a single political party in India,” he said during his recent visit to The Hague. Commerce Minister Ghulam Dastagir echoed similar thoughts in Lahore.
The Foreign Office here has for quite some time advised the government that it would not be prudent for Pakistan to give such a major political concession to the present Indian government “which is on its way out, and instead give this concession to the incoming one”.
The prime minister finally agreed, though initially he opposed this advice, The News daily reported, citing diplomatic sources.
Asked if Foreign Office has decided Pakistan will only sign trade agreement with the new government in New Delhi, Aslam said, “new government, old government is India's internal affairs. As I told you, that process is continuing (here)”.
Updated on: March 27, 2014 19:57 IST
