Maintaining that it was willing to discuss all issues, India on Thursday asked Pakistan to “deeply introspect” on its permitting anti-India activity from its soil.
“We have drawn the attention of the government of Pakistan to Jehadi forces which are pouring venom on India. Hostile anti-India propaganda has been carried on there day in, day out…. This certainly does not help in building confidence, nor does it help in reducing the trust deficit,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told the Rajya Sabha during question hour. “At the same time, we would like to carry on with our talks with Pakistan.”
Asked repeatedly by Venkaiah Naidu and S.S. Ahluwalia, both of the Bharatiya Janata Party, to explain his criticism of Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, Mr. Krishna began by describing the bureaucrat as a distinguished civil servant and then sought to pin the blame on a “mess-up between the news agency and the Home Secretary.” Whatever Mr. Pillai had said reflected terror suspect David Headley's confession to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) . “We interrogated him for a considerable length of time. As a result, we have come to the conclusion that whatever Headley has said to the FBI and to our own interrogators, matches more or less with what the Home Secretary has conveyed.”
Mr. Krishna said he chose not to respond to the observations made by his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on Mr. Pillai because he did not want to get into a slanging match with him. “It was ridiculous to compare the Indian Home Secretary with a terrorist. When such comparisons are made, there is no point in just talking to him on the same line. So, I thought, it is best treated with the contempt he deserves.”
Another BJP member Ram Jethmalani rose to Mr. Krishna's defence by “complimenting and congratulating” him on the “extraordinary postures of impressive dignity and good manners.”
