Calling those who carried out the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as no friends of Pakistan, its Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said it’s in Islamabad’s enlightened self-interest to normalise and live in peace with India.
The government of Pakistan believes that terror organisations like the one behind the Mumbai attacks “have to be checked, curtailed and shut,” he said at the Council of Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank, Wednesday.
India has asked Pakistan to give up terror as a state policy and has demanded concrete and speedy action against those responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attacks blamed on the Pakistan based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba as a condition for normalising relations with its neighbour.
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Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna had made it clear to Mr. Qureshi at their Sep 27 meeting in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly that an environment free of violence and terrorism was essential for the success of a meaningful dialogue process.
Asked about what action Pakistan has taken against the Mumbai attackers, Mr. Qureshi Wednesday avoided a direct answer. “Those who carried out the Mumbai terrorist attack that killed 166 innocent people are not friends of Pakistan,” he said.
“In the interest of stability and peace in the region, it is in the interest of Pakistan’s enlightened self—interest to normalise and live in peace with India,” Mr. Qureshi said. “The government of Pakistan believes that these organisations have to be checked, curtailed and shut,” he added.
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In response to another question, Mr. Qureshi said the India-US civil nuclear agreement was discriminatory. “And when you sign agreements that are discriminatory in nature, it does not help,” he said.