Pakistan won’t follow suit if India carries out N-tests: Pakistani FM Qureshi

[jawadqamar]

Pakistan won’t follow suit if India carries out N-tests: Pakistani FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi

Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that Pakistan is capable of protecting its interests if India carried out further nuclear tests.He was responding to questions by newsmen here at the Foreign Office on Wednesday evening.When asked to comment on reports that India was preparing for nuclear tests and whether Pakistan would respond in kind, the Minister said “we don’t have to follow the tit-for-tat policy”. He, however, said “we would analyze the situation and then follow a policy that suits our interests”. About Pakistan-India relations, the Foreign Minister said Pakistan sincerely wants forward movement and this is possible only through dialogue.

 

[jawadqamar]

Pakistan won’t follow suit if India carries out N-tests: FM

* Qureshi says Pakistan ready to cooperate with India on all issues
* ‘No mini-Pentagon’ to be allowed in name of embassy expansion

By Sajjad Malik

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not follow a tit-for-tat policy if India tests a nuclear device but will act to guard its national interests, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Wednesday.

“We will not follow a tit-for-tat policy, but we are fully capable of protecting our national interests,” Qureshi said.

Addressing reporters on the eve of an Iftar-dinner hosted by him at the Foreign Office, Qureshi denied that the US was building a huge embassy complex in Pakistan, saying that “no mini-Pentagon will be allowed in the name of expansion of the embassy” in the country.

India: He said Pakistan was ready to cooperate with India on all issues, as it was the only sensible method to resolve differences.

“The only sensible way forward is dialogue and any other method would be suicidal,” the foreign minister said. He also said Pakistan and India should end their differences for the sake of peace and stability in the region.

Qureshi said the people of Kashmir should be included in the talks between Pakistan and India about Indian-held Kashmir. He asserted that without involvement of Kashmiris, the talks would be “a non-starter”.

“It is obvious that if we want to discuss the Kashmir issue, we must take the Kashmiri leadership into confidence,” the foreign minister said. To a question, Qureshi said he was likely to meet his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the UN annual session in New York later this month. He said Pakistan was ready to meet Indian leaders anywhere and at any time.

He said the Mumbai terrorist attacks last year had led to the suspension of talks but hoped that the process would resume, as it was the only way to move forward to address issues.

To another question, he said Pakistan had provided evidence of the involvements of Indian intelligence agencies in Balochistan.

“Yes, the matter of Indian involvement was identified and it was acknowledged by India. We will take it up with New Delhi again but not through the media,” the foreign minister said.

He also said former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf had kept the Foreign Office out of the loop regarding the back-channel diplomacy and there was no record of the consultations and talks in the office. The foreign minister said he would chair two important inter-ministerial meetings in the next two days to consult all stakeholders on engagement with India and Afghanistan. He said the past year was “eventful” as Pakistan had engagements with various countries including the United States, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan.

 

[nightcrawler]

Hmmm
No tit for tat policy but a carrot & a stick policy
I really gonna love my shrewd informer Qureshi; though India may well be happy to have a such flexible statements falling on their but really they should fear our far sighted but so-called soft hear ted policy makers