By NNN-PTI,
Washington : Terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks wanted India and Pakistan to be at “each other’s throats” so that extremists can flourish, a top Pakistani diplomat has said.
“All these extremists want India and Pakistan to be at each other’s throats so they can flourish,” Pakistan’s envoy to the US Husain Haqqani said cautioning both the countries not to take any step which could help the militants.
“… What are the targets of the terrorists right now? Why did they go to Mumbai? They wanted to weaken Pakistan’s fledgling democracy. And they wanted to harm India-Pakistan ties,” he said.
“I think India and Pakistan should be very cautious not to let terrorists flourish. President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister (Yousuf Raza) Gilani, everybody in Pakistan has made it very clear this time around Pakistan is not going to give any quarter to any terrorist groups and we want to work with India. We will cooperate in the investigation and we’ll make sure we get these guys if they have any connection to us,” Haqqani told CNN in his second interview within hours.
“I am here, through you, to tell our friends in India that we look upon you as neighbours. We have had problems in the past, but that does not mean that we will continue to have a negative view of each other in the future. India and Pakistan need to work together. We are both victims of terrorism. We need to fight terrorism,” he said.
“… Pakistan has pointed the finger at India, in the past, about terrorist acts in Pakistan. This is not the time to bring those allegations back again,” he added.