Terrorists to benefit if Indo-Pak peace process stalls: Gilani

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said terrorists alone will benefit if Pakistan and India do not resume their peace process,which has been stalled since the Mumbai terror attacks over a year ago.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said terrorists alone will benefit if Pakistan and India do not resume their peace process,which has been stalled since the Mumbai terror attacks over a year ago.

“If we do not hold talks,only terrorists will benefit,” Gilani told reporters in his hometown of Multan. He was responding to a question about the possibility of resuming the composite dialogue process,which India put on hold after the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba carried out the attacks in Mumbai in November last year.

Pakistan wants “very good relations” with all its neighbours,including China,Afghanistan,Iran and India,Gilani said. Though ties between Pakistan and India had improved in recent years,the Mumbai incident created a “distance” in the composite dialogue,he said.

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Referring to his meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Egypt in July,Gilani said the two leaders had agreed that “talks are the only way forward”. The Pakistani leader also said he and Singh had wanted to “resolve our core issues”,including the Kashmir dispute,differences over sharing river waters and cooperation against terrorism.

Gilani again skirted questions about making public the evidence Pakistan claims it has of Indias alleged involvement in fomenting unrest in Balochistan province and the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan,saying this would be done at the “appropriate time”.

Gilani said he had discussed the issue of Balochistan with Singh during their meeting in Egypt and the matter had also been included in a joint statement issued after their talks.

“We cannot disclose our strategy (on Balochistan) and commenting on sensitive issues can cause problems for the government,” he said.

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“The evidence with us will be shared…when we get the appropriate time and forum,” Gilani said.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has claimed Pakistan had extensive evidence of Indias alleged role in fomenting unrest in the country but Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said the proof is insufficient to “plausibly argue” Islamabads case. Gilani refused to comment on the divergent views expressed by the two ministers.