New Delhi today conveyed to Pakistan that bilateral relations were under "considerable stress" and asked the neighbouring country to fulfil its pledge of not allowing its territory to be used for terrorist activities against India, dpa reported. In the second high-level meeting between the countries following the Mumbai attacks, India's External Affairs Minister SM Krishna met his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the margins of the G8 Outreach meeting in the Italian coastal city of Trieste. In reference to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg June 16, Krishna reminded Qureshi about Islamabad's pledge of not allowing its territory to be used for anti-India activities. "These (relations) have remained under considerable stress and the primary cause of this is the terrorist attacks on India, by elements based in Pakistan," Krishna said in a statement released by the Indian Foreign Office following the talks. He said Qureshi and he agreed, however, that there was vast potential which existed in India-Pakistan ties. "I conveyed the sentiments of our prime minister that we stand ready to meet Pakistan more than half way to utilize and harness that potential for our mutual benefit," Krishna said. Underscoring Singh's message to Zardari in Russia, Krishna stressed on the importance of addressing the central issue of cross- border terrorism which has plagued ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. "At the same time, we have to address centrally why our relations come under stress recurrently," he said.
