DURBAN, Sept 2: Pakistan Foreign Minister Sartaz Aziz said today both India and Pakistan should do away with modalities which had proved to be stumbling blocks in the resumption of official talks on bilateral issues.Talking to newspersons here, Aziz, who held talks with Minister of State for External Affairs Vasundhara Raje last night, said the two countries should do something substantive to give a push to the process of normalisation of relations between them.The dialogue should resume since it was the need of the hour, he said, adding ``Islamabad is for it.''``The entire world was looking at us to make progress in bringing about normalcy in our relations which will have a positive impact on the security environment in the South Asian region,'' he said.The remarks of the Pakistani Minister appeared constructive with regard to the Nawaz Sharif Government's approach to solving contentious and other issues between the two countries. Aziz's position was in sharp contrast to the rigid stand adoptedby Islamabad during the last two rounds of foreign-secretary level talks with India here and in Colombo.Aziz also expressed confidence that the proposed meeting of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee with his Pakistani counterpart in New York later this month would be fruitful.Aziz and Raje had directed their foreign secretaries to meet here on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Meet summit to break the impasse over the modalities. The foreign secretaries, along with senior officials are scheduled to meet here today to accelerate the process of initiation of dialogue between the two countries.India had time and again reiterated that it was ready for talks with Pakistan to cover all bilateral matters, but Pakistan was insisting that the core issue of Kashmir should be taken up on priority basis. Raje also said India was ready to go the extra mile in its efforts to improve relations with Islamabad.
