Pakistan FM urges India not to get ‘sucked’ into blame game

NEW DELHI, Nov 28, 2008 (AFP) Pakistan’s foreign minister appealed Friday to India not to get “sucked” into a blame game over the Mumbai attacks and put the nuclear-armed neighbours on the path to confrontation.

Speaking in New Delhi, where he was on an official visit, Shah Mehmood Qureshi condemned the multiple Islamist assaults on India’s financial capital, calling the militants “barbaric animals.”

But he said India had spoken too swiftly earlier on Friday in blaming “elements in Pakistan” for the attacks and should avoid a “knee-jerk” response over the attacks that killed at least 130 people.

“My honest view is the government should have reflected more in coming to its conclusions,” Qureshi told a gathering of female journalists.

“Let us build a new relationship or we could get sucked back into a situation that we have been living in for 60 years and that will be a tragedy as large as this one,” he said.

India-Pakistan relations during that period have been marked by three wars, frequent border clashes and an intense arms race.

The countries came to the brink of another war in 2002 after a raid on parliament in New Delhi, an assault India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

“We should avoid a replay of that beaten track of the blame game,” said Qureshi.

Since 2004, the countries have been engaged in a slow-moving peace process to resolve their differences.

India has frequently accused Pakistan of sheltering guerrilla groups which have attacked Indian targets allegations Islamabad strongly denies.

Qureshi said he understood “there are domestic compulsions there are (state) elections” underway and a federal election looming in India.

“But this is above and beyond politics,” he said, urging India’s leaders to “play the role of statesmen.”

India’s Congress-led government faces general elections by May 2009 which will now likely centre around national security issues amid a barrage of criticism over alleged intelligence lapses.

Islamabad pledged Friday to send its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency chief to help India probe the attacks, which observers saw as an important gesture by Pakistan’s civilian government, elected in February.

Qureshi said he did not cut short his visit to India when the assault began Wednesday because he wanted to “express my solidarity with India.”

He said he had a close acquaintance with terrorism as Pakistani troops were battling Islamist militants daily and he had missed being blown up by 15 seconds in a suicide bomb attack in September on Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel in which at least 60 people died.

He appealed to India to “trust us.”

“There’s a consensus in the country that peace with India is in Pakistan’s long-term interest,” he added.

India’s Premier Manmohan Singh blamed the assault Thursday on a group “based outside the country” in a clear reference to Pakistan and warned there would be “a cost if suitable measures are not taken” to halt attacks.

Indian media reports have said security agencies believe the attacks were staged by Lashkar-e-Taiba, which operates out of Pakistan.

The group has denied any involvement and condemned the attacks.