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| India-Pakistan |
| India PM: Peace depends on Pakistan stopping terrorists |
| 2010-08-16 |
| Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said peace talks with neighbouring Pakistan would not succeed unless Islamabad stopped cross-border terrorism. Statement of fact. Not terribly likely, but... In a speech delivered from the historic Red Fort in New Delhi on the country’s 64th Independence Day, Dr. Singh also called for an end to violent separatist protests in Kashmir and invited Maoist rebels for talks. Reasonable. Try to chill out the other areas, let Pakistan stew in its own poison. India wanted peace with its neighbours and desired to resolve differences through dialogue, Dr. Singh said in his annual address from the heavily—guarded ramparts of the 17th century fort. “As far as Pakistan is concerned, we expect from them that they would not let their territory be used for acts of terrorism against India,” Dr. Singh said. Fair warning. “We have been emphasizing this in all our discussions with the Pakistan government. If this is not done, we cannot progress far in our dialogue with Pakistan,” he said. They could progress from 'jaw-jaw' to 'war-war'. It's not unheard of. India and Pakistan fought three wars and have troubled relations since independence from British rule in 1947. "Troubled" is a charitable way of putting it. India suspended a wide—ranging peace dialogue on issues such as border demarcation, water sharing and the disputed Kashmir region in 2008 following a terrorist attack on Mumbai that killed 166 people. A rather restrained reaction. New Delhi blames the attack on Pakistan—based Islamic militant group Lashkar—e—Taiba and says the state Inter—Services Intelligence agency was also involved. But we give Pakistan aid instead. How is that working out? But officials from both sides have been meeting over the past six months. The latest was a meeting of foreign ministers in Islamabad on July 15. |
| Posted by:Free Radical |