India’s Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, in an interview with Voice of America, has said Pakistan’s intelligence agency and its military are trying to undermine Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to talk to India.
Khurshid told VOA on Saturday that Nawaz should find a way to keep the military and ISI under control. Referring to recent attacks in Indian-held Kashmir that killed 10 people, he said, “We’ve been told that all the Pakistani government agencies are on the same page, but if they were, the things that are happening would not be happening.”
Ahead of the much anticipated meeting between the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers in New York, Khurshid defended his prime minister’s strong criticism of Pakistan in his UN General Assembly address Saturday as “legitimate grievances”.
The Indian prime minister had blamed Pakistan for cross-border terrorism and said “the epicenter of terrorism” is in Pakistan.
Mentioning the recent violence, the foreign minister questioned how the recent attacks could have taken place without support from the ISI, adding that if Pakistan could not control “non-state actors” on its territory it should seek India’s help. Khurshid told VOA, “We expect them to handle non-state actors if they are non-state actors.”
Foreign minister Khurshid also said that India has provided evidence of the involvement of Pakistan in attacks on India, including the voice samples of the control room that handled the 2008 Mumbai attacks which killed 164 people. He said, “We can’t go into Pakistan and pick out the guy whose voice it is, Pakistan’s government has to help us do it. So we’re saying either give the guy to us, or take action against him.”
Khurshid welcomed the mention of a “new beginning” in India-Pakistan relations by the newly elected Pakistani prime minister but said that based on its past experiences, India needed to “trust but verify” that Pakistan is serious about peace.
“We need some accountability, or at least the beginning of accountability,” Khurshid told VOA. “Only then we can start afresh.”
Damaghi tawazun darust nahi – Ye muhawra in jaise logon k liay hee bana hai
Its not Pakistan Army or ISI which is undermining the peace talks efforts, it is basically your people, your leaders and your army which is doing these things. Salman Khurshid is living in a fool's paradise.
Or karo in se baat. Ye aise hee hain. Pyar ki zaban nahi samajh aye gi in ko
Comments are closed.