http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...issue-Pak-envoy-says/articleshow/15850425.cms
Exodus of northeast Indians: Morphed pictures India's local issue, Pak envoy says
Sachin Parashar, TNN | Aug 28, 2012, 12.46AM IST
NEW DELHI: With the government barely producing any evidence to back its claims that morphed images instigating violence against northeasterners originated in the neighbourhood, Pakistan's high commissioner to India, Salman Bashir, on Monday cautioned New Delhi that internationalizing the issue may not be in its interest. In an exclusive interview to TOI, Bashir offered full cooperation from his government on the issue, but added that recrimination in public was not going to help.
"I have three points to make on this issue...personal opinion in some sense and the first is that I don't think that it would be appropriate for any country to internationalize their domestic situation," he said. He was responding to a query about the allegations made by the Union home secretary R K Singh on TV last week.
"Secondly, as far as the accusations are concerned, I must say that the interior minister of Pakistan called the Indian home minister and offered to extend full cooperation into what had been attributed to the Indian home secretary. The third point is that it is extremely important that instead of getting into an accusatory mode, the two countries must learn to cooperate because recrimination, especially in public domain, doesn't help anyone," he added.
Bashir also disclosed that there was no merit in suggestions made by the government that Pakistan had not informed India initially that the judicial commission, which came here earlier this year to record statements in the 26/11 attacks, needed to cross-examine witnesses too. "We had told them, absolutely. Point-scoring of this nature is not helpful, it is time that sober people of this country took an objective view...I believe it is important for everybody to understand that there are civilized ways to deal with issues," he said. The judicial commission's report was rejected by Pakistani courts because it had failed to cross-examine witnesses. Pakistan is awaiting nod from India to send the team again.
When asked if there was a deliberate attempt by some in the country to queer the pitch ahead of PM Manmohan Singh's meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari in Tehran and also the foreign ministry-level dialogue in Islamabad next week, Bashir said he was convinced that there was a genuine desire at the leadership level in both the countries "to move ahead and to keep the atmosphere right and bridge the trust deficit".
"The conversations which have taken place have been productive even on difficult issues like terrorism. Unfortunately what is happening in public domain or media doesn't reflect the intent and the spirit that is there behind the dialogue process," said Bashir, who as former foreign secretary was one of the architects of the Indo-Pak re-engagement process that started in 2010. He was asked about Pakistan's grievance that Indian authorities launch propaganda against it instead of first sharing evidence.
Talking about expectations from the upcoming crucial meetings in Tehran and Islamabad, Bashir said that there was no issue in the Indo-Pak bilateral agenda which was not a doable "provided there was a political will" and that it was in Pakistan's interest to solve issues like J&K and Siachen. "I want to emphatically dismiss this impression that Pakistan is a house divided. There is no civil-military divide. Pakistan's strategic establishment is dictated by its national interest and I want this to be clearly understood by everybody," he added.
