Sunday, April 17 2005 17:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition and BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) President L K Advani today (Apr 17, 2005) said that "distrust" between India and Pakistan was hampering normalisation of relations between the two countries.

After an over 30 minute meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in New Delhi, Advani told reporters that the issue of terrorists did come up at his talks, during which the visiting dignitary spoke of "mutual intransigence" as the reason for the delay in resolving the issues.

Advani told Musharraf that "sometimes distrust worsened the problem", but at the same time, he lauded the Pakistan President's January 2004 statement in Islamabad during the SAARC summit that Pakistan territory would not be allowed to be used for anti-India terrorist activities.

This, Advani said, had led to a breakthrough. "Since the joint statement between the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Musharraf, things have been moving constantly in the right direction and as we move forward, we will sort out the problems".

Replying to questions, the BJP leader said, "the distrust between the two countries was much less now".

He parried a question as to how he felt about the current visit of Musharraf compared with the one to Agra in July 2001.

Gift of photos from school days

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today had a pleasant surprise for Advani when he presented the BJP leader with an album containing photographs from his school days till his last visit to Pakistan.

Advani, who had studied in the same school as the Pakistan President, said they had a hearty discussion for "quite some time" about their alma mater.

He said the President had come with a "precious gift" of a photo album containing pictures of his home, his school and the then Principal.

Advani said he would "probably" visit Pakistan in June this year.