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Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari visits India
President Asif Ali Zardari became the first Pakistani head of state since 2005 to visit South Asian neighbour India, for a one-day trip aimed at building goodwill between the nuclear-armed rivals
Relations have warmed since Pakistan promised its neighbor most favored nation trade status last year, although a $10 million bounty offered by Washington for a Pakistani Islamist blamed for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai has stirred old grievances. (AFP/Getty Images)
The leaders discussed Kashmir, theater of two of three wars between India and Pakistan, as well as terrorism and trade during a 40-minute meeting on their own before sharing lunch, India’s Foreign Secretary Rajan Mathai told reporters. (AFP/Getty Images)
“We would like to have better relations with India. We have spoken on all topics that we could have spoken about and we are hoping to meet on Pakistani soil very soon,” Zardari told a briefing as they emerged from Singh’s residence.(AFP/Getty Images)
Singh said he hoped to make his first visit to Pakistan at a convenient date. (AFP/Getty Images)
“Relations between India and Pakistan should become normal. That’s our common desire,” he said. “We have a number of issues and we are willing to find tactical, pragmatic solutions to all those issues and that’s the message that president Zardari and I would wish to convey.” (AFP/Getty Images)
Zardari then headed to the shrine in western India of a revered Sufi Muslim saint seen as a symbol of harmony between South Asia’s often competing religionAFP/Getty Images)
On his first visit to India as part of the 40-member delegation, Zardari’s son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, stood behind the leaders, in a sign of his growing role in politics. (AFP/Getty Images)
Mathai said Singh offered Zardari India’s help in finding 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians engulfed by an avalanche on Saturday near the 6,000-meter-high (18,500-foot) Siachen glacier in Kashmir – known as the world’s highest battlefield.(AFP/Getty Images)
Zardari thanked Singh but did not immediately respond to the offer to help rescue teams, backed by helicopters and sniffer dogs combing an area one-km (half a mile) wide with snow up to 80 feet deep. Hundreds have died at Siachen over the years, mainly from the inhospitable conditions. (AFP/Getty Images)
