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| India-Pakistan |
| Qureshi: no training camps in Pakistan |
| 2008-11-29 |
| NEW DELHI: Visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday said there were no terrorist training camps in Pakistan. The country was pursing a policy of cooperation to add a new chapter in bilateral relationship with India. Kashmir was an outstanding issue on which Pakistan preferred a “peaceful, negotiated settlement.” Asked where terrorists were being trained if not in Pakistan, he said, “It is not confined to Pakistan. There have been attacks and suicides in Afghanistan, Iraq. This is an international network and has to be dealt with at an international level. It is a global issue and has to be tackled on that basis.” Interacting with the media at the India Women’s Press Corps here, Mr. Qureshi said he did not cut short his visit in the wake of the terror attacks so as to express “solidarity” and “lend support.” “I have come here to build bridges. I am equally saddened by what has happened.” Asked about India’s assertion that initial information had shown the involvement of Pakistan elements in the Mumbai attacks, Mr. Qureshi said, “How can you be so sure? You have to build trust. Without trust there can be no beginning. There are extreme and rogue elements in every society. In February the people of Pakistan spoke and rejected extreme fringe elements.” To a question, he said the Indian government should have pondered more before pointing a finger at Pakistan. “The leadership must rise above politics and domestic compulsions.” Appealing for cooperation and not accusations, he stressed the need for strengthening the anti-terrorism mechanism that had been set up between India and Pakistan. “Terrorists are barbaric and inhuman and we have to eliminate them collectively.” On what action the Pakistan government had taken against Lashkar-e-Taiba, he said, Pakistan had banned LeT. “To give a value judgment during this moment is not proper. Experience shows that there should not be a knee-jerk reaction. When the Samjhauta Express bombing happened there were a lot of accusations, but today investigations have reversed that.” Claiming that the Pakistan government was going after terrorists, he said such incidents were happening to disrupt the India-Pakistan dialogue process. He said the present government in Pakistan did not subscribe to the values of the Taliban and was looking at the curricula of all madrasas to discourage teaching of militancy. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #6 Has the "this couldn't have been Muslim's cuz this is against the Koran" bullshit been used yet? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-11-29 21:40 |
| #5 As many of those madrassas should be targeted and attacked on the same night. Thousands of furuture jihadis can be snuffed at once. And before you start blathering about "thal will only make more jihadis", know that they are always making more jihadis. Roaches are always breading too - does that mean you don't exterminate them in your home and yard? |
| Posted by: Rob06 2008-11-29 15:55 |
| #4 No training camps in Pakistan? O.K. we can forget about Pakistan as the source of trouble. Yeah, sure Grand Poopaw Makedoom Shaw Pureshibullshitski, we believe you (wink, wink). |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-11-29 13:37 |
| #3 The thing to realize is that Qureshi does not speak for the Pakistani military, and certainly not the ISI. 3 days ago he announced that the ISI was disbanding its political wing. The next day the Pakistani Army announced the political wing would stay. You can be sure no civilian government has oversight of the ISI, and if they wanted to build a mockup of the Taj Hotel, no cabinet member would be the wiser. |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2008-11-29 11:57 |
| #2 Visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday said there were no terrorist training camps in Pakistan. Makndoom (sounds like a character from a horror movie) should check out his own country first before becoming a Foreign Minister. This is what Spiegel has to say, maybe Makndoom should check it out. For years a kind of death industry has been taking hold in Pakistan's tribal areas. There are hundreds of Koranic schools which could better be described as cadet schools for Islamists. Boys as young as five are sent here by their impoverished parents. The state provides hardly any free education; the schools that exist are poorly equipped. Children learn the Koran by heart in Arabic, often without understanding a word. After all they speak Pashtun, not Arabic. The idea is to condition or brainwash them. The goal is jihad. As young men these warriors are given military training which underscores their so-called spiritual training. Anyone who doubts the existence of this death-machinery can visit the hundreds of schools just a few hours' drive from Quetta, near Afghanistan's border. To get there one has to pass checkpoints and roadblocks erected by the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence agency. The ISI carefully protects this region, which might be described as an extended barracks for jihad, interspersed with rural villages. Why? No one in Islamabad seems willing to answer that question. |
| Posted by: tipper 2008-11-29 10:29 |
| #1 Take FM Wormtongue to Mumbai and let the locals tear him to pieces. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-11-29 08:47 |