India is not passionate about making peace with its old rival, Pakistan's prime minister said on Friday.
NEW DELHI: India is not passionate about making peace with old rival Pakistan, Pakistan's prime minister was reported as saying on Friday, days before officials of the two countries are due to hold peace talks.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's comments were made in an interview to Indian weekly magazine Outlook, to be published in its latest issue due to hit the stands on Saturday.
“I believe you must have a passion for peace,” a statement from the magazine quoted Aziz as saying in the interview.
“We in Pakistan, President (Pervez) Musharraf and I, have a passion for peace. I have yet to see this passion on the part of India,” Aziz said.
A slow-moving peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbours suffered a severe blow after Indian investigators pointed fingers at a Pakistan-based militant group and Pakistan's military spy agency for this month's train bombings in Mumbai in which more than 180 people were killed.
India, under pressure from mounting public anger, called of talks between foreign secretaries of the two countries scheduled this month in New Delhi to review their peace process.
But the two officials and their ministers are due to meet on the sidelines of a South Asian conference in Bangladesh next week and hold informal negotiations.
Aziz dismissed Indian charges against Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group suspected to be behind the train bombings in the financial hub of Mumbai.
“We don't see any evidence of their activity that's prejudicial,” the magazine statement quoted him as saying. “We have done a lot to transform some of these people.”
India and Pakistan launched fresh moves to make peace after coming near the brink of a fourth war in 2002.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}