A day after Prime Minister Mir Jafarullah Khan Jamali called up his Indian counterpart, Pakistan on Tuesday night said it was willing to go the 'extra mile' to renew ties with its neighbour.
Describing the developments in the last few days as 'positive', Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri told Aaj Tak, "Let us not look at spectacular things. Let us now look for consolidated, concerted and focused efforts."
Both countries should try and control their rhetoric and both governments should go back to the relations they had before the terror attack on Parliament.
"We have stopped cross-border movement. We have done all we could. When we start a composite dialogue, we actually create a new paradigm. You unleash new forces in the interest of peace in both the countries. You create peace lovers," he said.
Kasuri said it took a 'lot of courage' for Prime Minister Jamali to pick up the phone and talk to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Jamali's initiative 'is one signal that we are willing to go the extra mile', Kasuri said adding, "We will not let false pride stand in the way. That's one signal. Let's start talking. There will be many signals."
The Pakistani minister said one option was to continue what was going on.
"No war, no peace. How long can it continue? If it is allowed to continue, it will actually degenerate. We can't afford degeneration at this stage when both the countries are nuclear powers and have some of the largest standing armies in the world."
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