India proliferated N weapons in the Region: Pakistan
By Maria A Khan 'Pakistan Times' Diplomatic Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesperson Ms Tasneem Aslam while refuting the charges of Indian Prime Minister Manmonan Singh about proliferation of nuclear weapons in region by Pakistan said rather it was India who did it.

She said in an interview that India itself started proliferation of nuclear weapons in the region. It had conducted its nuclear test in 1974 much before Pakistan, she added.

She said the motive behind India’s allegation is to overcome the situation arising following the opposition of non proliferation lobby to Indo-US civil nuclear agreement.

The Spokesperson said that sanctions were imposed on several Indian companies and individuals for proliferation adding India will not be able to convince any other country on the allegations that it was levelling against Pakistan.

Indo-Pak Ties

Meanwhile, Ms Tasnim Aslam has said that as compared to the past, the situation of Indo-Pak relations is much better at present with gradual improvement. "We have reversed the course since we started the dialogue process", the spokesperson told a private television channel.

She said that at one time there were one million soldiers on the borders and the international community was also fearing a war which might flare up into a nuclear clash.

"Now the situation has changed a lot," she said and added that problems are there but efforts are being made to solve the core issue of Kashmir.

She said that solution of Kashmir dispute would set new dimensions of relations between the two countries and they would be able to move ahead toward progress and prosperity.

To a question she said that Pakistan did no opted to become US ally under any pressure following the 9/11 incident.

The step was taken in the national interest and the interest of the people of the country was kept at priority, she added.

Pakistan rejects Indian Allegations

Meanwhile, Khalida Mazhar 'Pakistan Times' US Bureau Chief reports from Washington; Pakistan strongly rejects the Indian allegations of its intelligence agency's involvement in the Mumbai train bombing July this year, the Embassy of Pakistan stated Friday in a letter printed in the Christian Science Monitor.

Press Minister Akram Shaheedi stated in the letter that Pakistan rejects the Mumbai police allegations and has demanded the evidence of such involvement.

Referring to a recent article in the paper, he observed that it is an old methodology of the Indian government to divert the attention of Indians from the chronic problems of poverty and disease by externalizing the issue.

He hoped that these baseless accusations would not affect next month's talks between India and Pakistan as part of a composite dialogue process aimed at resolving all outstanding issues between the two countries.

He recalled that during a meeting in Havana, President Pervez Musharraf and the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, had expressed their firm resolve to pursue the composite dialogue with sincerity and commitment.

"The baseless allegations are contrary to thespirit of the joint statement issued in Havana," he wrote.

Commenting on the contents of the article vis a vis Afghanistan, the Press Minister pointed out that the writer seems to be oblivious to the role of Pakistan's security agency in defeating the Soviet Union and the foiling of the London plot hatched to blow up civilian airliners in midair during transatlantic flight.

On the question of resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, Akram Shaheedi referred to the United Nations report released on Sept. 24, stressing that it amply describes the center of gravity of the Taliban movement inside Afghanistan.

The report states: "The insurgency is being conducted by Afghans operating inside Afghanistan's borders. The insurgency's current center of gravity falls in and around the provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan and increasingly Farah. The Taliban southern command has recently begun to establish parallel civil administrations and courts in its area of operations."

The UN report is enough proof of the source of insurgency which also highlights the nexus between the warlords and drug barons, and the money they are getting to finance the fight against coalition forces, he concluded.●