NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said signals coming from Nawaz Sharif, chief of Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N), were positive and therefore likely to improve relations between India and Pakistan.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Singh said his government wanted cordial ties with Pakistan and hoped that all outstanding issues between the two countries could be resolved in a peaceful manner.
The Indian premier said his government stood by its pledge of resolving all issues involving Pakistan in a peaceful manner, adding that the same had also been expressed by Sharif.
Responding to a question, Singh said that when results of the May 11 elections were being announced, he had called Sharif to congratulate the latter over his party's success in the polls.
The Indian prime minister further said he had invited the PML-N chief to visit India and that Sharif had also invited him to Pakistan.
"I have an invitation to visit Pakistan from its government," Singh told reporters, adding no final decision had yet been taken on the visit and neither had any dates been decided.
"However, we would surely want to have cordial ties with Pakistan in capacity of a neighbouring state," Singh said.
Singh said that both he and Nawaz Sharif want to take bilateral relations forward and resolve outstanding issues peacefully.
"It has been consistently our policy that in India-Pakistan relations, we should deal with all outstanding issues. We are committed to resolving them in a peaceful manner. That is also the sentiment that was reciprocated by Nawaz Sharif," he said.
Responding to a question about spot fixing and betting scandal that has rocked the cricket in India, Singh said politics and sports should not get mixed.
Asked if the government was contemplating intervention into the scandal, Singh said: "I would not like to comment on the type of things you have mentioned. This is under investigation."
The Indian prime minister refused to be drawn into the controversy that top politicians, including ministers, were holding top positions in the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI).
On Wednesday last, Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had told reporters in New Delhi that incoming Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif should convert into reality the positive signals he had given during his election campaign.
“There were many positive signals from Sharif with relation to India during the election campaign. We hope that he will work towards converting these positive signals into reality upon assuming office,” he said.
Pak water team visits Dal Lake: A three-member team of the Pakistan Indus Water Commission concluded a two-day visit to the Indian-occupied Kashmir Valley Friday.
According to Indian media, sources in the Held Kashmir government said the three-member team of the Pakistan Indus Water Commission, headed by Indus Water Commissioner Shiraz Jameel Memon, visited the Dal Lake and the Jhelum River in Srinagar Friday.
The Pakistan team Thursday visited the Baramulla district in north Held Kashmir.
Indian official sources say the visit was part of the Indus Water Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960.
Under that treaty, three rivers - Sutlej, Ravi and Beas - flowing from India into Pakistan are ceded to India; three others - Indus, Chenab and Jhelum - are ceded to Pakistan.
While India can build dams for water storage on the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi, no water storage dams can be built on the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers that flow through Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistan.
All hydro-power generation projects on the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers in Jammu and Kashmir have to be built on a run-of-the-river basis, to comply with this treaty.
The purpose of the Pakistan team's visit, according to official sources, was to check the levels of water in the Jhelum river, so a comparison could be made with the discharge of water in it once it enters Pakistan.
"This was a routine visit, one of those that takes place as per the terms of the treaty," an Indian official source said.