By IANS
New Delhi : India Saturday reacted guardedly to the imposition of emergency in Pakistan saying it regrets “difficult times” in the neighbouring country even as it hoped for a quick return of normalcy and democracy in Islamabad.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed the political situation in Pakistan in the aftermath of the imposition of martial law by President Pervez Musharraf.
“We regret the difficult times that Pakistan is passing through. We trust that conditions of normalcy will soon return permitting Pakistan’s transition to stability and democracy to continue,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said.
Later, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma underlined that India hoped and trusted that stability and democracy will return to Pakistan. “We hope and we trust so,” Sharma told reporters when asked about the prospects of stability in Pakistan.
As expected, the Indian government chose to play safe and not condemn the emergency that could give the regime in Pakistan sweeping powers of arrests involving muzzling of civil liberties and human rights.
The mild official reaction, however, does not reflect the deep level of concern in the higher echelons of the Indian government about renewed uncertainty and turmoil in Pakistan that could impact on the two countries’ peace process.
India will be closely watching developments in Pakistan for the next few days, with an eye for possible violations of civil rights under the martial law dispensation.
India’s peace process with Pakistan has been languishing for the past few months due to political chaos in the neighbouring country. Now with this development, peace process goes further on backburner, an official source, who did not wish to be named, said.