India stalling sub-continental dialogue: Pakistan
By IANSMonday, November 23, 2009
ISLAMABAD - Accusing India of dragging its feet on the sub-continental dialogue process, Pakistan Monday said India was not serious on resuming the talks that have been stalled since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks that New Delhi blames on elements operating from this country.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a private TV channel that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s most recent statements on the issue were an excuse for delaying the resumption of talks.
With power virtually resting with the army in Pakistan even in a democratic regime, Manmohan Singh wondered “who to deal with” or negotiate with in Islamabad.
“I think the most important force in Pakistan is the army,” he said in an interview with CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” Sunday coinciding with his four-day state visit to US when asked who he thought was running Pakistan right now.
“And there is democracy. We would like democracy to succeed and flourish in Pakistan. But we have to recognize that the power today rests virtually with the army.”
Manmohan Singh also expressed India’s concern over Pakistan’s continued inaction in bringing the 26/11 perpetrators to justice contrary to its assurances.
“No, they haven’t done enough,” he said during the interview. Manmohan Singh said when he met Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Sharm-el-Sheikh in July this year, he (Gilani) had assured that his government would do all that’s possible to bring the perpetrators to justice. “That’s not happening.”
Qureshi contested this, saying Pakistan was serious about bringing the culprits to justice.
India has repeatedly said the sub-continental composite dialogue process can resume only if Pakistan takes credible action against the perpetrators of the Nov 26-29, 2008 Mumbai attacks that claimed the lives of 166 people, including 26 foreigners.
Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone gunman captured alive during the assault, has admitted to being a Pakistani national and said he was trained in this country by the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group.
India has so far submitted seven dossiers on the Pakistani antecedents of the 10 attackers, nine of whom were killed by the security forces after an operation that lasted 60 hours.
