Islamabad/New Delhi: Ahead of the foreign secretary-level talks, Pakistan has accused India of "interfering in its internal affairs" by making critical remarks like "deteriorating situation" in the country.
"The remarks by (Indian) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the internal situation of Pakistan are tantamount to interference in the internal affairs," Pakistan's Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani told reporters at a function in Islamabad on Thursday night.
"Since both President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have agreed to carry forward the peace process, initiated in 2004, it would therefore be appropriate that Indian leaders avoid issuing such statements, which could only vitiate the atmosphere," Durrani said, according to Pakistan's Online news agency.
India is yet to react to Islamabad's accusation about New Delhi meddling in its internal affairs.
Pakistan, Durrani said, has sincerely and seriously been pursuing a composite dialogue with India for the settlement of Kashmir and all other key issues.
"On one pretext or the other, the Indian side has endeavoured to stall these talks as it has no moral ground to negate the Kashmiris' rights to self-determination," he charged.
Singh had said Wednesday that the anti-terrorism institutional mechanism would put to test Pakistan's intentions and capabilities to implement its assurances given in the past three years not to allow its territory to be used for anti-India terror activities.
"We have put Pakistan on notice that any democratic government of India would find it difficult to continue on the present path of addressing all outstanding issues unless its government clearly deal[s] with terrorism," Singh had told top commanders of the armed forces at their annual combined conference.
Addressing the same conference, Mukherjee had said India was concerned over the deterioration in Pakistan's internal situation, which could affect peace and stability in the region.
India and Pakistan are set to resume the foreign secretary-level talks in New Delhi Nov 13. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan will discuss, among other things, the contours of an anti-terror mechanism agreed to by the two countries during a meeting between Manmohan Singh and Musharraf in Havana.
Comments
0 comment