jeypore
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2008
- Messages
- 2,885
- Reaction score
- 0
- Country
- Location
Reconciliation and rapprochement between India and Pakistan is the best response to terrorism, the Pakistani president said today as he insisted he would treat militants as "criminals, terrorists and murderers".
But even as Asif Ali Zardari sought to salve Indian anger after the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan's foreign minister insisted militants arrested by Pakistan would be tried on Pakistani soil.
"Those who are Pakistani, there is no question of handing them over to India," the foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said in Multan city, in the central Punjab province.
"And if any allegations are proved against them, Pakistan has its own laws, Pakistan has its own courts and its own regulations and action will be taken against them within these regulations."
Pakistani troops raided a training camp run by the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba group on Sunday. It was Islamabad's first response to Indian and American pressure to crack down on militants with alleged links to those who carried out the Mumbai attacks that killed nearly 200 people.
"As was demonstrated in Sunday's raids, which resulted in the arrest of militants, Pakistan will take action against the non-state actors found within our territory, treating them as criminals, terrorists and murderers," Zardari said in an opinion piece in the New York Times.
Zardari did not name the location of the raids or who had been arrested, but according to local reports, 12 members of the banned group, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi - accused by Delhi as being one of the planners of the carnage in India's financial centre - were arrested in the raid in the hills above Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. A helicopter gunship hovered overhead and gunfire was heard.
Pakistan's military said it had begun "intelligence-led" operations against banned groups such as Lashkar. India has accused Lashkar, which was created in the 1980s by Pakistan's intelligence agencies to act as a proxy fighting force in Indian Kashmir, of being behind the Mumbai attacks.
In his article, Zardari sought to distance the Pakistani government from militant groups based in Pakistan. "Not only are the terrorists not linked to the government of Pakistan in any way, we are their targets and we continue to be their victims," he said.
It is unclear whether India, which wants Pakistan to hand over 20 suspects, will be satisfied with Pakistan's actions. Many Indians believe that the Pakistani president, whose wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by terrorists, is sincere in wanting to crack down on militants, but suspect that Pakistan's powerful security establishment still backs them.
Ties between India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since 1947, have been improving in recent years. Zardari is keen on better ties, but the Mumbai attacks have sharpened tensions between Islamabad and Delhi.
"We understand the domestic political considerations in India in the aftermath of Mumbai," Zardari said. "Nevertheless, accusations of complicity on Pakistan's part only complicate the already complex situation."
Mumbai attacks: We'll treat militants as murderers, says Pakistan president | World news | guardian.co.uk
But even as Asif Ali Zardari sought to salve Indian anger after the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan's foreign minister insisted militants arrested by Pakistan would be tried on Pakistani soil.
"Those who are Pakistani, there is no question of handing them over to India," the foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said in Multan city, in the central Punjab province.
"And if any allegations are proved against them, Pakistan has its own laws, Pakistan has its own courts and its own regulations and action will be taken against them within these regulations."
Pakistani troops raided a training camp run by the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba group on Sunday. It was Islamabad's first response to Indian and American pressure to crack down on militants with alleged links to those who carried out the Mumbai attacks that killed nearly 200 people.
"As was demonstrated in Sunday's raids, which resulted in the arrest of militants, Pakistan will take action against the non-state actors found within our territory, treating them as criminals, terrorists and murderers," Zardari said in an opinion piece in the New York Times.
Zardari did not name the location of the raids or who had been arrested, but according to local reports, 12 members of the banned group, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi - accused by Delhi as being one of the planners of the carnage in India's financial centre - were arrested in the raid in the hills above Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. A helicopter gunship hovered overhead and gunfire was heard.
Pakistan's military said it had begun "intelligence-led" operations against banned groups such as Lashkar. India has accused Lashkar, which was created in the 1980s by Pakistan's intelligence agencies to act as a proxy fighting force in Indian Kashmir, of being behind the Mumbai attacks.
In his article, Zardari sought to distance the Pakistani government from militant groups based in Pakistan. "Not only are the terrorists not linked to the government of Pakistan in any way, we are their targets and we continue to be their victims," he said.
It is unclear whether India, which wants Pakistan to hand over 20 suspects, will be satisfied with Pakistan's actions. Many Indians believe that the Pakistani president, whose wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by terrorists, is sincere in wanting to crack down on militants, but suspect that Pakistan's powerful security establishment still backs them.
Ties between India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since 1947, have been improving in recent years. Zardari is keen on better ties, but the Mumbai attacks have sharpened tensions between Islamabad and Delhi.
"We understand the domestic political considerations in India in the aftermath of Mumbai," Zardari said. "Nevertheless, accusations of complicity on Pakistan's part only complicate the already complex situation."
Mumbai attacks: We'll treat militants as murderers, says Pakistan president | World news | guardian.co.uk
