By NNN-APP,
Islamabad : Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Saturday said the international diplomacy is helping defuse tension with India after the Mumbai tragedy and reiterated Pakistan would take action in line with its own laws if evidence was provided by New Delhi and no Pakistani national would be extradited.
In an interview with Reuters, Gilani said prospects of a military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbours has receded in the two weeks. “Normalisation takes time,” Gilani said.
“All our common friends and responsible statesmen are playing their important role in defusing the situation and I’m pretty sure that will work.”
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Pakistan and India recently and urged both countries to cooperate in unearthing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.
Leaders of Turkey and the United Arab Emirates and several other countries also made efforts to reduce tension.
Pakistan has repeatedly said that it would extend a hand of cooperation to India in investigations if evidence is presented to it.
Both countries have held a number of rounds of composite dialogue to resolve issues including the long-standing dispute of Kashmir.
Gilani said Pakistan was taking action against groups and people put on a U.N. terrorist list.
He said the chances of India resorting to air strikes in Pakistan were remote. “I think India is equally responsible and they won’t. There is no fear of anything like that,” Gilani said.
He said action against groups should reassure New Delhi of Pakistan’s desire to cooperate with India.
Gilani said the latest crackdown on some organisations would be effective because U.N. resolutions gave the government a stronger legal position. “Now we have to act according to the United Nations resolutions,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the freedom struggle in Indian Kashmir was indigenous “not state-sponsored” and it has “nothing to do with Pakistan”.
Asked whether his government would act against groups involved in illegal activities, Gilani replied: “Certainly if Pakistan soil is being used for any such activity the law will take its own course.”
He said India has yet to provide hard evidence of involvement of any Pakistani in Mumbai attack, and hoped this would be forthcoming when foreign ministers from both countries meet on Sunday in Paris on the sidelines of a conference on Afghanistan.
Gilani reiterated Pakistan’s position that anyone caught in Pakistan would be tried there also, and suspects wouldn’t be handed over to India.
“We will go according to our own law,” he said. “There is no such thing of handing over to India.” He also set out plans to snap links between Islamic charities and any groups involved in illegal activities.
He said charitable trusts and schools would be overhauled by the government, new boards of directors formed, and their work would be regularly monitored. Gilani said the greatest threat to Pakistan was terrorism, and one of the root causes was economic.
Gilani said he was looking for multilateral lenders and friendly governments to help Pakistan meet the challenges.
The International Monetary Fund last month extended a loan of $7.6 billion.
Potential donors are expected to meet next month in a “Friends of Pakistan”conference.