Amid mounting world pressure on it, Pakistan on Saturday said it does not war with India and noted that 'friendly countries' are working to defuse tensions between the two neighbours.
Coverage: Mumbai Terror Attacks
"Pakistan is a peace-loving country. We don't want to have war or aggression," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani [Images] said, addressing a function on the occasion of the first death anniversary of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [Images].
"We want to have friendly relations with our neighbours -- Afghanistan and India," Gilani said.
He noted that "friendly countries" are working to defuse tension between India and Pakistan.
His comments came a day after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee [Images] suggested that Pakistan was trying to create 'war hysteria' to divert attention from the 'real issue' of taking action against those responsible for the Mumbai attacks.
Mukherjee is understood to have conveyed this view to his counterparts from the US, Saudi Arabia, China and Iran when he talked to them on Thursday and Friday.
Pressure of the world community on Pakistan is mounting, which is reflected by the latest statement by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, who said that perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks [Images] must be 'eliminated' and that Islamabad [Images] has still a 'lot to do' in combating terrorism.
© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
|