Natwar Singh with Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri at a hotel in Islamabad on Wednesday. (AP)

Islamabad, July 21: Taking care not to rake up the Simla agreement again or place any roadblock, foreign minister Natwar Singh today assured Pakistan he was committed to “carry forward” the peace process started by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in January this year.

“I can assure you that the process started in January will be carried forward by us,” he said after a breakfast meeting with Pakistan counterpart Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri.

Singh had ruffled diplomatic feathers on both sides of the border shortly after taking charge by referring to the Simla Agreement as the “bedrock” of bilateral relations. Pervez Musharraf had then dialled former Prime Minister Vajpayee to seek clarification.

On January 6 this year, Vajpayee and Musharraf had agreed that progress on bilateral issues would not be possible unless there was forward movement on Kashmir, which in turn was not possible until Pakistan stopped exporting terror from its soil. But Singh had given the impression that the Congress-led government would bypass the statement.

Singh clarified his position again in the evening at a reception in Indian high commissioner Shiv Shankar Menon’s residence. Meeting with Pakistani leaders from across the political spectrum, he iterated the Manmohan Singh government was as committed to peace with Pakistan as the earlier BJP-led regime.

“We are a coalition government, but there is unity across the board to take the process forward,” Singh said. He also called on interim Pakistani Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

Singh and Kasuri will meet again in Delhi on September 5-6. Before that, the foreign secretaries will review the dialogue process and submit their recommendations to the foreign ministers.

Pakistan, too, assured that it was committed to the peace process and was willing to negotiate with Delhi beyond September. “We have mutually agreed that we will speak more after our meeting in Delhi. We hope there will be continuity and greater progress after that,” Kasuri said.

Kasuri’s statement is being seen as significant in the light of of Musharraf’s a few days ago that he would be forced to pull out of talks if there was no meaningful progress in bilateral relations, particularly Kashmir. Musharraf had set off speculation that the peace process could end soon.

The mood in both camps, however, seems to have lifted after the breakfast meeting where “all issues of concern” were discussed in a free and frank atmosphere. “The meeting went on for nearly two hours and we could not have discussed only the weather.

“In diplomatic jargon, free and frank often means unfriendly. But we discussed all issues in a friendly atmosphere that were of concern to us,” Kasuri said.

Singh was unwilling to give out further details. “With great respect, I understand that you are looking for a story, but we are looking for a solution.”