India rules out early visit by Manmohan Singh to Pakistan

New Delhi: An early visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Pakistan is ruled out as it can happen only when there is "specific delivery" from Islamabad on issues concerning India, highly-placed sources in government said on Wednesday.

Pakistan needs to deliver on a "wish list" that India has given during the visit of the then Home Minister P Chidambaram to that country in 2010, the sources said. They said Pakistan was very keen on such a visit by Singh but it cannot happen on a unilateral basis.

"Pakistan knows what we want. Home Minister Chidambaram when he went there gave a wish list. Our present understanding and assessment is we have not reached a level that there has been adequate delivery and we can go on. We sincerely hope that there will be a specific delivery. We hope that it will happen in the future and then we can think of it (visit by the PM)," the sources said.

Government sources said that the visit would come only after Pakistan addresses issues concerning India.

They said India does not consider the hanging of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman in the 26/11 attack, as a closure to the terror attack. India is keen that the perpetrators of the 26/11 attack on trial in Pakistan are brought to justice. "We owe it our people who have suffered that this is done," they said.

The sources said that a visit by Prime Minister is not a matter of sheer courtesy and cannot be done in haste. For relations to become normal, there are some steps needed to be taken on both sides and it was important that Pakistan should take the steps.

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