MELBOURNE : India will give Pakistan the “benefit of the doubt” as they pursue peace amid a series of ceasefire violations along the LoC but this cannot be at India’s cost, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said.
“…If you look at the ground reality and you look at the result of our meetings, it is very disappointing, particularly in recent times meetings have been somewhat disappointing if not counterproductive,” he said.
“I think the new government there (Pakistan) has a very very difficult situation to handle. Our view is that we should give them time and benefit of doubt but not at our cost,” Khurshid said in an interview to The Australian newspaper.
India would be able to say there is “adequate evidence” of Pakistan’s intent to move forward on bilateral ties if it is “able to address the issue of dismantling of terrorist infrastructure that is targeted at India” and “some accountability is shown on what happened in Mumbai through the legal proceedings that are under way”, he said.
Pakistan has also not followed through on its promise of a top-level military meeting to address tensions along the Line of Control (LoC), he said.
“We still have not seen a proper meeting between the Directors General of Military Operations which we had agreed in the New York meeting (between the Prime Ministers) would take place soon. The idea was that military-to-military, there is going to be a better understanding why these violations are happening and what is to be done in order both to restrict the damage that they can do as well as if possible eliminate them entirely for future,” he said.
The meeting of the DGMOs has not yet been held and Khurshid said he hoped it would be arranged in the “near future” so that the “best way” of addressing peace and tranquillity on the LoC can be taken up.
“When (Pakistan’s Prime Minister) Nawaz Sharif says he wants peace and good relations with India, we take him at his word,” he said.
But Khurshid said he could not reconcile that word with repeated ceasefire violations on the LoC in recent months.
“We talk to Pakistan periodically and in terms of personal gestures we receive great warmth,” he said. “But if you look at the ground reality and you look at the result of our meetings, it is very disappointing…”
Pakistan-backed terrorists, especially the Lashkar-e-Toiba, are continuing to attack and kill Indian civilians in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere, Khurshid said.
Intermittent cross-border firing started in January but intensified in August, when five Indian soldiers were killed in an attack by Pakistani forces along the LoC.
During their meeting in New York in September, the prime ministers of India and Pakistan had agreed that the DGMOs would meet to find ways to reduce tensions on the LoC. However, the meeting is yet to be held and the two sides have not finalised any dates for it. (Agencies)
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