Lahore:
Pakistan’s former overseas minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri recalled fond reminiscences of his affiliation with the late Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who died in Delhi on Thursday evening.
In an interview with PTI in Lahore on Friday, Mr Kasuri stated that Dr Singh will likely be remembered in historical past as a person who devoted himself to the development of bilateral relations between the 2 international locations.
Mr Kasuri, 83, who served as Pakistan’s overseas minister from November 2002 to November 2007, credited Singh for the creation of a congenial environment in the complete SAARC area.
He stated it was greatest exemplified by Mr Singh’s assertion that “he regarded ahead to the day when it might be doable to have breakfast in Amritsar, lunch in Lahore and dinner in Kabul”.
Mr Kasuri stated he was fortunate to be part of a course of by which unprecedented progress was made throughout the peace negotiations between the 2 international locations.
He stated people-to-people contacts have been enhanced tremendously throughout Mr Singh’s tenure as prime minister ensuing within the creation of mutual belief between the 2 governments.
Mr Kasuri stated it even enabled them to provide a blueprint of a doable framework for the answer of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
He stated that though the method had begun throughout the interval when Pakistan’s then president Pervez Musharraf and India’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee led the 2 respective governments, there may be completely little question that Dr Manmohan Singh put his coronary heart and soul into carrying the method ahead.
Mr Kasuri recollected that Mr Singh expressed his robust need to go to his birthplace Gah, within the Chakwal district of Punjab, Pakistan.
He stated that he assured Mr Singh that he could be accorded a heat welcome in Pakistan.
Mr Kasuri hoped that at some point it might be doable for the late prime minister’s spouse Gursharan Kaur and different members of his household to go to Mr Singh’s birthplace.
Mr Kasuri additionally provided heartfelt condolences to his spouse and different members of the family in addition to the individuals of India.
Mr Singh, the architect of India’s financial reforms, died in Delhi on Thursday evening. He was 92. He is survived by his spouse and three daughters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)