New Delhi, May 31
India today diplomatically chided Pakistan for showing unnecessary nervousness and raising doubts about New Delhi's intentions in the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process and assured its commitment to friendship and cooperation with Islamabad.
Yesterday's sharp comments of Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan brought forth an equally sharp response from the Ministry of External Affairs which today gave a suo motu statement wherein it allayed Pakistan's imaginary fears, doubts or suspicions vis a vis the peace process
The operative portion of MEA's longish statement, which expresses surprise over Islamabad's reaction to certain comments made by External Affairs Minister (EAM) Natwar Singh, says: "EAM has, on all occasions, clearly said that we will abide by the framework of the Simla Agreement, all subsequent agreements and declarations and the January 6 Joint Press Statement, when the Prime Minister of India had visited Islamabad, and after his meeting with the President of Pakistan. "
The punchline here is "all subsequent agreements and declarations and the January 6 Joint Press Statement".
The Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman, commenting on Mr Natwar Singh's May 29 averments made in Jaipur, had said on May 30: "If the invocation of the Simla Agreement was meant to maintain the status quo, then that is not suggesting a solution but a way of perpetuating the problem.
The perception here is that Pakistan has shown
unnecessary nervousness and incorrectly, incompletely and inadequately interpreted statements of the Indian leadership, thereby creating unnecessary complications for what is otherwise an ongoing and viable process.
That there is no let-up from the Manmohan Singh Government in the peace talks with Pakistan is evident from the fact that India and Pakistan are working out fresh dates for the deferred expert-level meeting on nuclear confidence building measures. None other than Foreign Secretary Shashank confirmed today that this was in the
process of being done.
The expert-level talks on nuclear confidence building measures (CBMs), scheduled to be held in New Delhi on May 25-26, had to be postponed as it cut too fine with the installation of the new government.
The following is the full text of the MEA statement:
"We are somewhat surprised at the reactions in Pakistan to some of EAM's recent articulations of consistent policies of the Government of India, the policies that have been followed over decades and despite several changes in Government.
"The Simla Agreement has been the bedrock of India-Pakistan relations since July 1972. It provides the framework for our relations, and commitment both to dialogue for resolving differences and not to take any unilateral actions.
"EAM has, on all occasions, clearly said that we will abide by the framework of the Simla Agreement, all subsequent agreements and declarations and the January 6 Joint Press Statement, when the Prime Minister of India, had visited Islamabad, and after his meeting with the President of Pakistan. This fact seems to have been deliberately ignored. Suggestions or inferences that there are differences in intent between these documents, and that some of them would not be given due significance, are obviously erroneous.
"Similarly, it has been our consistent policy that difficult issues between India and Pakistan can be addressed productively only when there is an atmosphere of cooperation, goodwill and understanding. These can be generated through enhanced interaction and exchanges. Obviously, we intend to pursue with this approach.
"We have clearly laid out a framework for the composite dialogue in the coming months. That process would provide us the opportunity to discuss all these issues and any unnecessary apprehensions in detail. Till then it would perhaps be better to avoid any uncalled for controversy in or through the media.
"We would like to reiterate that our approach is one of friendship and
cooperation. We hope that the seriousness and sincerity with which we are committed to engagement in the bilateral dialogue process with Pakistan will be respected by the Government of Pakistan, and an atmosphere free from the menace of terrorism and violence created to take forward and sustain the process."
