ISLAMABAD (January 20 2009): Pakistan on Monday urged international community to press India to stop blame game it had started against Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks and cooperate with Pakistan to nab the culprits. At the same time, it also called upon the international community to help Pakistan financially and technically for successfully handling the "war on terror" as it had been a frontline state since 2001.
At an extensive in-camera briefing to the foreign diplomats and envoys in the Foreign Office, which was co-chaired by Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik, Pakistan urged the international power players to force India to come to the negotiation table for hammering out a joint strategy to combat the menace of terrorism. The diplomats were briefed on the measures taken by the government in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks.
The move was a diplomatic effort of Pakistan in a bid to motivate the international community that Pakistan is not a terrorist state neither it promotes any such approach as India successfully managed in diverting the world attention towards the Mumbai attacks directly blaming Pakistan for the heinous act.
A similar briefing was also given last month by the Foreign Office to a select group of envoys, including the diplomats of permanent members of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and took them into confidence over the measures taken by Pakistan against the networks of the suspected elements inside Pakistan.
Sources said that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the diplomats that Pakistan had offered India time and again to hold joint investigation to uncover the culprits and draw a joint strategy to defeat the menace of terrorism as certain groups from both sides were not in favour of peace and stability between the two traditional rivals.
He reaffirmed the government's determination to extend full co-operation and assistance in investigating the Mumbai incident. The Foreign Minister added that it was important that India responded positively to Pakistan's proposals for engagement to address meaningfully the issue of terrorism in the region, specifically the Mumbai attacks.
He, however, stressed that the blame game should be avoided and India should cooperate with Pakistan to help bring the culprits to justice. The Foreign Minister said that Pakistan was a responsible and peace-loving country and if any war were thrust on it, the country would respond in the similar manner as it reserved the right to defend its homeland at all costs.
Both nuclear countries, he said, should act and behave positively to avoid any devastation of war, as both of them were not in a position to afford any such move. In his address, Rehman Malik said that the government had taken several concrete steps, which included detention of suspects, launch of formal inquiry, constituting of an FIA team, comprising experts of Special Investigation Group.
He further said that terms of reference for the inquiry reflected the government's intent to conduct transparent and legally tenable inquiry and proceed with the prosecution in accordance with law of the land. He reiterated Pakistan's full commitment to eradicating terrorism from the region, and affirmed the imperative need for co-operation between Pakistan and India to investigate the Mumbai attacks.
Sources said that the Interior Advisor sought the co-operation of the international community in term of financial and technical support to defeat the menace of terrorism as the country had been a direct target of terrorists and extremists due to its role as being frontline state.
