By IANS,
New Delhi/Kolkata : Hours after Pervez Musharraf resigned as the president of Pakistan, India Monday said it had no intention of getting involved “in internal affairs” of the neighbouring country and made it clear that its relations with Pakistan were not “individual specific”.
“India will not interfere in Pakistan’s affairs. Relationship with Pakistan is not individual specific,” External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in Kolkata.
“I do hope politics in Pakistan will be settled soon,” he added.
“We have no comments to make on the resignation of President Musharraf of Pakistan. This is an internal matter of Pakistan,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna told reporters in New Delhi in response to queries about Musharraf’s resignation.
India is keenly watching developments in Pakistan as Musharraf’s exit has the potential to redraw power equations in that country.
Last week, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan had voiced these anxieties when he said that Musharraf’s exit would leave “a big vacuum” in Pakistan’s politics.
“Whether he is impeached or not is not important from the Indian point of view. It is for the people of Pakistan to decide,” Narayanan told Singapore-based The Strait Times in an interview.
“But it leaves a big vacuum and we are deeply concerned about this vacuum because it leaves the radical extremist outfits with freedom to do what they like, not merely on the Pakistan-Afghan border but clearly our side of the border too,” he said.
“Like nature abhors a vacuum, we abhor the political vacuum that exists in Pakistan. It greatly worries us,” he added.