“Stop Blame Game” – Pakistan Says To India

Islamabad – 7.1.09 – Pakistan today claimed that blame game by India is turning the relationship between the two countries bitter and consequences may not be desirable for either of the countries.
Urging that India and Pakistan should cooperate with each other in fighting the common enemy, terrorism, instead of getting involved in blame game, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said “We need to grow out of the blame game.”

Ever since the terrorists attacks on Mumbai, India has been asking Pakistan to either take visible action against the terrorists or to handover them.  While India’s demands have earned international support, Pakistan has been constantly denying that terrorist origin has roots in their soil. However, even the closest ally of Pakistan, America has not supported the Pakistani stand so far.

In yet another face saving move in the international level, Rehman said “scoring points will only move us further away from focusing on the very real and present danger of regional and global terrorism”.  She was speaking in a ceremony marking the birth anniversary of founder of the Pakistan People’s Party, late Zulfikar ali Bhutto. Indian leaders have made contradictory statements about the involvement of Pakistan in the Mumbai attacks.

Scoring points will only move us further away from focusing on the very real and present danger of regional and global terrorism,” she said on the sidelines of a function to mark the birth anniversary of Pakistan People’s Party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Rehman claimed India’s leadership had made contradictory statements on the involvement of Pakistani agencies in the Mumbai attacks.

“It is our firm resolve to ensure that non-state actors do not use Pakistani soil to launch terrorist attacks anywhere in the world,” she said, adding the country has initiated its own investigations into the Mumbai incident. Rehman also said Pakistan did not “want war but if war is imposed on us, we will respond to defend our motherland”.

The PPP-led government is following the ideology of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, who always wanted regional cooperation and a better life for the people, he said. PTI.