New Delhi, Mar 31: Buoyed by his cricket diplomacy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday said that India and Pakistan must “find ways” to resolve whatever be the “differences” between the two neighbours. He said the two countries should put their “ancient animosities” behind them and work for a “permanent reconciliation” in the region.
Singh also said that he and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani reaffirmed their resolve to make every “honest effort” to overcome difficulties coming in the way of improving bilateral relations.
“Whatever be the differences between our two countries, we have to find ways to resolve them,” he said.
The prime minister was briefing reporters on his dinner-eve meeting with Gilani on the margins of India-Pakistan World Cup cricket semi final match at Mohali last evening.
Singh also gave the “beautiful game” of cricket credit in being a “uniting factor” to bring the two prime ministers together. “Cricket”, Singh said “has been a uniting factor. It has brought our two PMs together and I dare say that’s a very good beginning”.
He said the “message” from Mohali is that the people of the two countries want to live in “peace and amity”.
At the dinner meeting, Singh said the two countries “should be working together to find cooperative solutions and need permanent reconciliation to live together in dignity and honour”.
“We should put our ancient animosities behind us to attend to the problems of our nations,” he said.
Singh said; “Gilani Sahab and I have had extensive discussions on all outstanding issues and we have reaffirmed our resolve that there are difficulties in the way but we will make every honest effort to overcome those difficulties. And the message from Mohali is that the people of India and Pakistan want to live in peace and amity and that the two PMs have committed their governments to work in that direction,” he said.
Singh said he was “very grateful” to Gilani for “having accepted my invitation to join me in watching this beautiful game of cricket”.
Gilani on his part termed his talks with Singh as “positive” and said they discussed all the core issues between the two countries.
“Talks were positive. We discussed all the core issues between the two countries,” Gilani told the Pakistan media in a brief chat after his dinner meeting.
“We don’t want that we are unable to resolve our own issues. We have the capacity and ability to resolve our issues by ourselves. We held talks on all outstanding issues and Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) showed magnanimity by saying he is ready to resolve all issues by sitting together”, the Pakistan Prime Minister said.
“Today’s match brought the peoples and leadership of the two countries together. This, I believe, is the positive outcome of today’s semi-final”, Gilani said.
Gilani said “winning or losing a game does not matter more than its quality and the team spirit” and congratulated both the teams “for demonstrating sportsmanship and quality game”.
The Pakistan Prime Minister felicitated the Indian team for showing better performance and determination and said the Pakistan team also did put up resistance but it was not their day.
Gilani conveyed to the people of India that Pakistan wanted good neighbourly relations and “the resolution of all issues through dialogue will bring peace and prosperity to our people”.
Gilani told PTV that “winning and losing is something that has its own place but this is a victory for cricket and the two countries”.
“On the basis of this, we came together today and we held discussions on the sidelines (of the game) and we talked on all issues. It is our determination that we will resolve all issues”, he said.
Gilani said “I congratulate the (Indian) Prime Minister for the resumption of the composite dialogue. It was his promise in Thimphu and it was in the spirit of Thimphu that meeting of the Interior Secretaries was very successful. A good message has gone.
“We don’t want that we are unable to resolve our own issues. We have the capacity and ability to resolve our issues by ourselves.  We held talks on all outstanding issues and Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) showed magnanimity by saying he is ready to resolve all issues by sitting together”, the Pakistan Prime Minister said.
He said “we want positive messages to be sent by both countries and our common enemy is poverty, hunger, disease, unemployment. We should give attention to that and Prime Minister (Singh) has said earlier and is saying today that the intention of both of us is to resolve these issues and both the countries should prosper. There should be prosperity and development.
Gilani invited Singh and Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi to visit Pakistan.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 1 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST