India should work jointly to end terrorism: FO

ISLAMABAD: India should work jointly to end terrorism in the region as Pakistan on Thursday emphasised the need for a cooperative approach to tackle terrorism while categorically rejecting “baseless” allegations made by Rajnath Singh, Home Minister of India, on the Gurdaspur attack.
“Pakistan regrets the unsubstantiated and unwarranted assertion that those involved in the Gurdaspur incident of July 27, had entered India from Pakistan. Pakistan believes that the home minister’s provocative comments are a threat to peace and security of the region,” the Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah told the media.
However, despite these very dangerous allegations there were no indications either in New Delhi or Islamabad that the bilateral dialogue between the two had been cancelled.The spokesman added that there was ‘concern’ in Pakistan for a continuing tendency of India to cast blame on “Pakistan for any terrorist incident in India. In the Gurdaspur incident, blames were apportioned to Pakistan in the Indian media, even when the encounter with terrorists was still going on,” he said.
He recalled Pakistan’s expressing condemnation “in the strongest terms” of the attack in Gurdaspur. “Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Terrorism is a common enemy of both Pakistan and India. To tackle terrorism, a cooperative approach is required. Blame game and finger-pointing would be unhelpful,” he said.
Rajnath Singh said that it was for the Ministry of External Affairs to comment on the issue while in Islamabad the spokesman said dates of the meeting between the two NSAs were being discussed between the two sides.
Earlier, Singh blamed the Gurdaspur attack on Pakistan, saying there is “overwhelmingly conclusive” evidence that the three terrorists had infiltrated from there to carry out the strike.In a statement in Rajya Sabha on Monday’s attack, he said the terrorists had sneaked in possibly because of the “difficult terrain coupled with recent heavy rains, resulting in excess flow in the rivers and canals along the border.”
He said the government will do everything possible to prevent cross-border terrorism and “any effort by the enemies of our nation to undermine India’s territorial integrity and security or imperil the safety and security of our citizens will meet an effective and forceful response from our security forces.”
Giving details about the attack, Singh said, “preliminary analyses of GPS data indicates that the terrorists had infiltrated from Pakistan through the area near Tash in Gurdaspur district where the Ravi River enters Pakistan.”
Refusing to take these allegations at face value, the spokesman at the Foreign Office challenged Singh and said that apart from refraining from casting baseless allegations, it would be better to “work with Pakistan to eliminate terrorism from the region and create an environment of peace and amity in South Asia. If the government of India has any concrete evidence in this case, the same may be shared with Pakistan,” he said.
Better sense also prevailed when despite the tensions between the two sides Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz in a touching gesture visited the Indian High Commission, Islamabad, on Thursday to sign the condolence book on the passing away of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former president of India.He expressed condolences and sympathies of the government and the people of Pakistan to the government and the people of India.