NEW DELHI Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that a climate of trust and cooperation with India would ease the pressure enormously on their shared border to allow Islamabad to direct its energies on the volatile western front.
'If we have to concentrate on the western border obviously we have to be comfortable on the eastern side.' Mr Qureshi said in an interview broadcast by CNN-IBN channel on Monday. 'If there are tensions between Pakistan and India on the eastern border, we lose focus. It is in our mutual interest that we remain focused on the western border.'
Asked for Pakistans response to the question of Kashmir not being part of the American AfPak strategy, Mr Qureshi said 'We have outstanding issues and Kashmir is one of them. For normalisation, for good relations, we have to address them. We had in place a process or the composite dialogue. Unfortunately, the tragic Mumbai incident put that on hold.'
Mr Qureshi said he was interested in restarting that process. 'I feel that was a meaningful process, we were making incremental progress. Ok there was no great movement but there was progress and it is essential. Now if you block channels of communication what are you doing? By doing that you are strengthening militancy and you are promoting and strengthening the hands of terror. The sooner you realise that the better it is for you.'
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said in London recently that dialogue with Pakistan couldnt start unless the Mumbai accused were brought to justice in Pakistan and until the infrastructure of terror was dismantled. Was Mr Qureshi willing to accept the conditions?
'No! What I am saying is what we have to understand is there are no conditions and we would not accept conditions. But what I want to tell you is that bringing people to justice, the culprits of Mumbai to justice, is in our mutual interest. Pakistan seriously wants to do it. We want to cooperate with you and we want to move ahead. We cannot do it alone. We can do it collectively. Secondly, you say Pakistan should dismantle the terrorist network. We should do it in our own interest. Not for you... in our own interest and Pakistan has taken very positive steps which are not being recognised and you are overlooking them.'
The situation in Swat was worrisome, Mr Qureshi acknowledged 'Its a concern. I will not deny that it is a concern but you also have to understand that lets not exaggerate things. Swat has been under pressure but there are (only) certain pockets of Swat that are under pressure. The whole of Swat is neither under Taliban control nor is being attacked by them. There are pockets and we will clear those pockets. We have engaged with people because we feel that dialogue is one of the options. People who are willing to lay down arms - we are going to engage with them and not just Pakistan even the US strategy is also on similar lines.'
There is a complete consensus and all stake holders in Pakistan are on board that they would not surrender to terrorism. 'And let me tell you, despite modern technology, terrorists have reached far-flung places. They have reached not just Mumbai, theyve hit New York, theyve reached London, they have hit Madrid.'
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