By IANS,
Islamabad : A white dove is on the cover of the New Year greeting cards sent by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, a gesture that has been much appreciated here.
“President Zardari will soon reciprocate the positive gesture of the Indian prime minister,” the president’s spokesperson Farhatullah Babar told Dawn.
“With all good wishes for the new year,” Manmohan Singh said in the greeting cards that he and his wife Gursharan Kaur signed.
“We consider the good wishes sent by the Indian premier a positive gesture to de-escalate tension between the two countries,” Babar said.
According to the spokesperson, “a white dove on the card indicated that Dr. Singh desired good relations between the two countries and peace in the region”.
Pakistan-India relations have hit a new low following the Nov 26-29 Mumbai terror attacks that claimed more than 170 lives and which New Delhi has blamed on elements operating from this country.
India has also submitted a detailed dossier on the involvement of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group in the carnage, to which Islamabad has said that the details provided can’t be treated as evidence.
After weeks of denials, Pakistan Jan 7 finally owned up to the lone survivor of Mumbai attacks Ajmal Amir Kasab but, given the heinous nature of the crime, refused to provide him the legal aid he has sought.
India, on Jan 6 for the first time pointed a finger at the Pakistan government, saying the Mumbai attack had the support of Pakistani “official agencies”.
Manmohan Singh said in a hard-hitting speech at a chief minister’s conclave on internal security in New Delhi that Pakistan was an example of a “fragile” and “irresponsible” government that had “utilised terrorism as an instrument of state policy against India”.
“The terrorist attack in Mumbai in November last year was carried out by a Pakistan-based outfit, the Lashkar-e-Taiba…On the basis of the investigations carried out, (including by agencies of some foreign countries whose nationals were killed in the attack), there is enough evidence to show that, given the sophistication and military precision of the attack it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan,” Manmohan Singh maintained.