Terming the Indo-US nuclear deal as his best moment at the helm, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared to regret the temporary aberrations in the strategic relationship of both the countries following the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade.
Expressing his views on Pakistan while the Prime Minister said that circumstances were never appropriate to visit the neighbouring country, he maintained that India has consistently made efforts to persuade the other sub-continent neighbour Sri lanka to address \\“genuine” problems of the Tamil population there.
Appearing conciliatory over the Khobragade’s arrest which has led to outrage in India, Singh said his Government attaches “highest priority” to strengthen the strategic partnership between India and the US which has recently seen some “hiccups”.
Replying to a question as his best moment of 10 years rule, Singh described striking a nuclear deal with the US as one of his best moments of his tenure as Prime Ministership.
When asked why he never visited Pakistan during his Prime Ministership, Singh expressed hope of visiting Pakistan in next four months. “I would very much like to go to Pakistan. I was born in a village which is now part of West Punjab but as Prime Minister
of the country I should go to visit Pakistan when conditions are appropriate to achieve solid results.
“I thought of it many times but ultimately I felt that circumstances are not appropriate for my visit. I still have not given up hope of going to Pakistan before I complete my tenure as Prime Minister,” Singh said.
On ano-ther query about reports that India and Pakistan were on the verge of a historic deal on Jammu & Kashmir, the Prime Minister said, “I have tried to improve relations with all our neighbours to the best of my ability and on one time it appeared that important breakthrough was in sight.
“Events in Pakistan for example that General Pervez Musharraf (former President) had to make way for a different set up. I think that led to the process not moving further....” However, he added that he still believes that good relations between India and Pakistan are very essential for the sub-continent to realise its full development potential to get rid of poverty, ignorance and disease which have caused inevitable loss to millions and millions of people.
On Sri lanka, Singh said India has consistently made efforts to persuade Sri lankan government to address “genuine” problems of Tamil population and asked Tamilians from Sri lanka and Tamil Nadu to work together to resolve the fishermen issue.
“It is not true that we are not concerned about the well being of the Tamil population in Sri lanka. We have consistently made every effort to persuade government of Sri lanka to address the genuine problems of Tamil population. We continue to do so and will do in future as well,” Singh said.