2009-02-08
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- A high-level meeting will be summoned on Monday to discuss the response to the India's dossier on Mumbai attack, a local newspaper The Nation reported on Sunday.
The proposed meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet will be presided by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, the report said, adding that the Chief of Army Staff, Defence Minister, Information Minister and Foreign Minister will also attend the meeting.
Analysts here said that there was a sense in the high-level meeting at a time when India has linked the resumption of the disrupted peace process between the two countries with the actions by Pakistan with regard to the probe of Mumbai attack, which left more than 170 people dead in November last year.
It has been two months since the carnage took place and the stalemate and mistrust still prevails.
Addressing at a foreign affairs conference in Paris on Feb. 4, Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon indicated that Pakistani intelligence agency was involved in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai and also Indian embassy in Kabul. At the same time, he said that India was willing to work with Pakistan and the international community to bring peace in South Asia.
Pakistani foreign office refuted Menon's statement on Friday, terming it another manifestation of undisguised hostility and global smear campaign being conducted by India against Pakistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday reiterated Pakistan's offer to India to resume the peace process and the composite dialogue to resolve the dispute between the two countries.
Gilani said that Kashmir dispute was the key point to Pakistan-India relations and held the key not only to regional but also to global peace.
Gilani's statement coincided with the opinions of some Pakistani analysts who insisted that the root cause of the long-standing mistrust and hostility between India and Pakistan was the Kashmir dispute.
During a day-long visit to Pakistan, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged India and Pakistan to resume the composite dialogue that is deemed as a concrete effort to address the Kashmir issue.
He maintained that all the issues should be addressed peacefully through dialogue.
India and Pakistan resumed the peace process in 2004 to normalize their relations. The process, widely known as "composite dialogue" included Kashmir as one of the most important issues. Thus the two sides held at least four rounds of talks, which resulted in some breakthroughs in their relations.
Gilani said on Thursday that a number of Kashmir-related Confidence Building Measures including operating three crossing points across the Line of Control through bus services had been implemented.
The intra-Kashmir trade across the Line of Control commenced from May 21, 2008, Gilani said.
Even at the time when the Mumbai attack took place, Pakistani Foreign Minister was on a visit to India with an aim to enhance cooperation wit India on the fight against terrorism. The Pakistani leadership said it was a manifestation that Islamabad was willing to be friendly with New Delhi.
With the Kashmir dispute unresolved, the ties between India and Pakistan as a result of arduous efforts from both sides tend to be vulnerable. Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram in January warned that India could cut off business, transport and tourist links with Pakistan and isolate it from the rest of the world if Pakistan failed to help probe the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
People across Pakistan observed the Kashmir Solidarity Day to mark the right of Kashmiris for self-determination on Thursday. Gilani maintained that the Kashmir issue needed to be resolved in accordance with the U.N. Resolutions and aspirations of its people
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