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India has made us the scapegoat: Pak

By K J M Varma in Islamabad
July 19, 2006 14:39 IST

Claiming that it has been made a scapegoat in the aftermath of the Mumbai blasts, Pakistan on Wednesday said India has been approaching the peace process like it was doing a favour by participating in the talks.

But Islamabad wants the dialogue to continue as more has been achieved during this peace process than in the past.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri termed the postponement of foreign secretary-level talks in the wake of the Mumbai blasts as a 'negative development because it believes the whole approach is misconstrued'.

"This peace process is as good for India as for Pakistan and for the whole of South Asia. There is too much at stake, therefore this is a negative development," he said.

He said making 'spontaneous allegations' against Pakistan may not help with the investigations in the long run.

"Pakistan is being made a convenient scapegoat but in the long run it will not help India because an effective fight against terror would demand very serious analysis of the situation".

Terming the existence of militants groups in Pakistan as a 'blowback' effect of fighting against the erstwhile Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan in the 1990s, Kasuri said they needed to be rehabilitated.

Kasuri also said that he was disappointed the way India's external affairs ministry reacted to his 'misreported' remarks over the need for resolving the Kashmir issue to prevent terrorist attacks.

"We have come out with utter and total condemnation unequivocally over terrorism. It is obvious that the official concerned wanted some excuse to link me to certain ingenious construction to a question regarding India and Pakistan. It is completely unwarranted," he said.

K J M Varma in Islamabad
Source: PTI
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