PAK-INDIA 2

Drawing attention to the July 16 joint statement, Malik
said it mentioned that "the efforts that we are continuing to
do in the context of terrorism and the dialogue process, they
have to be delinked and they are not to be bracketed".

He said he was "referring to the commitment, the
agreement the two Prime Ministers made in Sharm-el-Sheikh on
July 16 and if you look at the joint statement, it is very
clear that dialogue is the only way forward".
Pakistan, the envoy said, was looking for "a
result-oriented focused dialogue" between the two countries.
Noting that the two countries have already had four
rounds of dialogue, he said, "We were hoping and still
continue to harbour hope that the two countries would get down
and talk to each other and discuss all the issues."
Malik said the Pakistani political leadership has been
requesting India to initiate dialogue process through their
statements but so far "there has been no response."
Asked if the response from India was 'silence' or 'no,
not yet', he said, "I think it is a combination of both. 'No,
not yet' in the sense that it is based on the statements in
the media that Pakistan needs to do more in the context of the
ongoing Mumbai (attack) investigations."
Expressing concerns over the two countries not talking to
each other, Malik said, "My worry is that by not talking to
each other, we are strengthening the forces which don't want
the two countries to make any progress."
He said this was also leading to "hardening of
positions", strengthening of extremist forces and weakening
the liberal forces in Pakistan. (MORE) PTI AJD
RDM


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