Islamabad has taken "a very serious" view of prime minister Manmohan Singh's remarks that Pakistan-based Taliban were a "serious threat."
Taking "a very serious" view of prime minister Manmohan Singh's remarks that Pakistan-based Taliban were a "serious threat" and were trying to interfere with the Indian election process, Islamabad has asked New Delhi to share "any specific information" in this regard.
It summoned the Acting high commissioner of India on Saturday night to convey that Pakistan wanted the government of India to share with it "any specific information" available with New Delhi which had prompted such a statement by Singh, the Foreign Office spokesman here said.
In a statement, the spokesman said Pakistan took "a very serious view" of the prime minister's remarks during a public
interaction in New Delhi on Friday.
It noted that Singh had "expressed the apprehension about a possible terrorist attack in India during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Pakistan territory".
"It has been Pakistan's consistent position that countering terrorism requires pragmatic cooperation," the statement said.
Prime minister Singh had said that the Taliban were a "serious threat" and terrorists were trying to interfere with the election process.
He also said the dialogue process with Pakistan would not resume till Islamabad showed sincerity in prosecuting the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.
The Pakistan Foreign Office had earlier on Saturday issued a strongly-worded statement which alleged that Singh's comments linking the resumption of the composite dialogue to the prosecution of perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks was an attempt to win votes by creating and cashing in "on anti-Pakistan frenzy".
That statement too referred to Singh's comments about terrorists trying to interfere in India's upcoming general election and said "such remarks reveal proclivity in India to win votes by creating, encouraging and encashing on anti-Pakistan frenzy".
Contending that it did not want "recurrence of incidents like the Mumbai attacks," Interior Ministry chief Rahman Malik said separately that since the statement about the terrorist threat had come from the highest level of the Indian leadership, the Pakistan government could not ignore it.
"We have made a request to the Indian administration for intelligence sharing so that all necessary steps could be taken," he told a news conference.
Pakistan is fully committed to cooperating with India if the required information is shared with it, he said, adding terrorists are the common enemies of both countries as they have no religion and borders.
"We condemn acts of terrorism whether they take place in India or in any other part of the world... We don't want the recurrence of incidents like the Mumbai attacks," Malik said.
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