Will consider Sarabjit case: Zardari

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday assured External Affairs Minister S M Krishna that he will consider the case of Sarabjit Singh, who has been on the death row in Lahore jail.

Singh, whose case was raised by Krishna, also got consular access on Thursday — just a day before Krishna's arrival — after more than a year.

It is learnt that the Indian High Commission officials in Islamabad found him to be in an "okay condition" when they met him on Thursday.

While Zardari's prompt response was appreciated by the Indian side, there was some discomfiture about Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar's statement that India needs to look at the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks "unemotionally".

"As far as 26/11 is concerned, we must be able to look at it unemotionally. We would want this issue to be resolved as soon as possible," Khar told reporters here.

This was viewed by the Indian side as smacking of "lack of concern". However, New Delhi wants to focus on the positives and the tone was set by Krishna when he landed and said that the leadership of India and Pakistan have mandated building of trust and confidence between our two countries.

"We are committed to finding solutions of all issues that have beset our relationship through peaceful bilateral dialogue, while we look to the future where our two countries are able to live together in an atmosphere of friendliness and all-round cooperation, free from terror and violence," he said after landing.

While foreign secretaries met during the day for two hours to prepare the agenda for Saturday's talks and talked about "all issues including terrorism", Krishna met the new Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf — who was interacting with the first Indian political leader in his current position.

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