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| Pakistan rejects India’s allegation |
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Wednesday, January 07, 2009
FO says Delhi’s approach fraught with grave risks; India told to shun blame game
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday emphatically rejected the allegation by Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh that the Mumbai attacks had the support of some Pakistani official agencies.
Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq, in a statement here, said instead of responding positively to Pakistan’s offer of cooperation, India had chosen to embark on a propaganda offensive. “It will not only ratchet up tensions but occlude facts and destroy all prospects of serious and objective investigations into the Mumbai attacks,” he said.
The spokesman said the Indian approach was fraught with grave risks and would further vitiate the situation in South Asia. “Only yesterday the government of India was advised not to embark on political point scoring. Regrettably this advice has not been heeded,” he said.
He said Pakistan was a victim of terrorism and this pernicious phenomenon was regionally pervasive. He said, “Pakistan has suffered more terror attacks than India. But we have not lost our equanimity.”
He added Pakistan was not sponsoring terrorism. “Our civilian and armed forces causalities over the past year in terror attacks and in countering terrorism have been far more than that of India,” he added.
He said the history and genesis of terrorism was well-known and needed no repetition. Many South Asian states have been victims of terrorism, he added. The spokesman said, “The government of Pakistan expects the government of India would demonstrate restraint and responsibility. The policy of casting accusations without uncovering full facts and even while the investigations are still continuing is irresponsible.”
He said vilifying Pakistan or for that matter any of its state institutions on this score was unwarranted and unacceptable and this was meant to close avenues of cooperation in combating terrorism.
He said, “Pakistan strongly rejects efforts at political and military coercion, which are counter-productive. India must refrain from hostile propaganda, and must not whip up tensions. It must also take steps to de-escalate its offensive military posture against Pakistan.”
He said, “We once again call upon the government of India to engage cooperatively with us to uncover the full facts behind the Mumbai terrorist attacks.” He said they were waiting for constructive proposals, including joint investigations, establishing a joint commission under the national security advisers of the two countries.
He said Pakistan was carrying out investigations on its own. ìWe reiterate our call for a pragmatic and cooperative engagement between the two countries to fight terrorism, which is a region-wide phenomenon and the common enemy of our people,” he said.
Asim Yasin adds: Information Minister Sherry Rehman on Tuesday asked India to shun the blame game as it was time for both the countries to cooperate in fighting the common threat of terrorism.
“We need to grow out of the blame game as scoring points like this will only move us further away from focusing on the very real and present danger of regional and global terrorism,” she said while talking to newsmen here at the central secretariat of the PPP.
In a reply to a question regarding the statement of the Indian prime minister, she said the statement by Indian foreign secretary on Monday contradicted Indian prime minister’s statement. “The Indian foreign secretary said quite the opposite that the Pakistan government was not involved,” she added.
The information minister said the government was firmly committed to ensure that non-state actors did not use Pakistani soil to launch terrorist attacks anywhere in the world. “Pakistan has already initiated its own investigations and have received some (information) from India,” she added.
She said Pakistan was a peace-loving country and would not allow anyone to use its soil for terrorism. “Pakistan does not want war but if war is imposed on us, we will respond to defend our motherland,” she replied.
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briefs...
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ISSN 1563-9479 
