Pakistan today accused India of manoeuvring at the US Congress to block aid to the country and asked it to ‘‘shun’’ its policy blocking of every development in the US or elsewhere that could benefit Islamabad.‘‘There is an active lobby at the US Congress that wants to block $ 3 billion aid package agreed to during the recent visit of President Pervez Musharraf,’’ Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said at the weekly press briefing.‘‘The Indian leadership looked worried when the package was announced by President Bush,’’ he said adding that New Delhi should ‘‘shun the policy of blocking every development in the United States and elsewhere that can benefit Pakistan.’’He pointed out that the resolution adopted by the American House of Representatives attaching conditions to aid was not a helpful development.‘‘Pakistan was working closely with the US to abort this move,’’ he said expressing the hope that US lawmakers would look at the situation in its entirety. He also welcomed PM A.B. Vajpayee’s decision to come to Pakistan in connection with the SAARC summit in January next year. He said the decision should have been made much earlier so that the SAARC meeting could have been held as per original schedule. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, which had been due in January this year, was delayed indefinitely by host Pakistan after India did not confirm its attendance.‘‘We have no (official) confirmation about the Prime Minister’s visit to Pakistan to attend the SAARC summit and his suggestion for foreign secretary-level talks. We have yet to receive formal communications,’’ he said. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali ruled out war with India and asserted that Pakistan wanted to resume a dialogue with New Delhi to settle all disputes including Kashmir.‘‘We do not want a war with India, rather we want to live in peace with our neighbour. We want peace in the region with honour and dignity,’’ Jamali said in an interview to ARY TV on Sunday. When asked to comment on his working relationship with President Musharraf, Jamali said, he had a “wonderful coordination” with Musharraf on all issues.
