Islamabad: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks about involvement of Pakistan's official agencies in the Mumbai attacks were "disappointing" since they were made by a "thinking man" and "seasoned statesman," Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Wednesday.
Qureshi, who is in Kabul accompanying President Asif Ali Zardrai on his maiden official visit to Afghanistan, said that Singh's statement on Tuesday about the Mumbai attacks having the backing of "some official agencies" in Pakistan was disappointing.
"The statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to me, I would say, is disappointing because in Mr Manmohan Singh I see a thinking man, an academic, a visionary, and personally I have a lot of regard and respect for him, his persona. A statement of that nature coming from such a mature, such a seasoned statesman, is rather disappointing," he said.
The two countries will have to cooperate at the operational level to get to the bottom of what happened in Mumbai, Qureshi said.
This objective cannot be achieved by closing channels of communication or resorting to accusations, he said. Qureshi said Indian politicians had "fallen prey to the Mumbai situation" and were indulging in a blame game.
Replying to a question, he said the ISI is an important national institution that has made "tremendous contributions" in the war on terror and this role is being recognised the world over.
Pakistan does not want war and instead it desires peace, harmony, regional stability and good neighbourly relations with India, Qureshi said.
However, if war is imposed on Pakistan, every Pakistani will fight back with full commitment and force of conviction, he added.
Responding to a question, he said Pakistan believes the normalisation of relations with India is in its own interest. Pakistani troops deployed in the country's tribal areas and parts of North West Frontier Province have achieved "great successes" during the past few months in their campaign against terrorism and extremism, he said. There is no question of moving troops away from Pakistan's western border, he said.
Qureshi described the joint declaration signed by Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday as a "historic and watershed document" that will take bilateral relations to new heights.
Since a democratic government came to power in Pakistan, the two countries have moved away from suspicions and finger- pointing to a relationship based on trust and confidence.
He proposed the setting up of several working groups to identify feasible projects for consideration by the Regional Conference on Afghanistan to be held in Islamabad in April. This will help make the conference more result-oriented, he said.
Qureshi also expressed confidence that the understanding between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the need to eliminate narcotics trafficking will help tackle this problem. "Money from narcotics is contributing to extremism and terrorism and we have to break the nexus," he said.
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