With India and Pakistan engaging in war of words post-July 15 parleys between their foreign ministers, Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik on Sunday tweeted that the talks should not be judged “mathematically like 2+2=4” but should be seen as a “positive step”. “It is time for exchange of hearts. Let us sow seeds of love and peace, so that future generations have only the option to reap love, and noting but love....Let us save our future generations from the disease of hate and terrorism,” Mr Malik, who has nearly 3,500 followers, said in his latest Twitter posting.
His soothing comments came amid exchange of barbs between external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi following their meeting here on Thursday last. Mr Malik, who had a meeting with home minister P. Chidambaram on the margins of the Saarc interior ministers’ conference here in June, said that they both “will move forward in terms of delivery of commitments based on what we agreed.”
“The roadmap of commitment and performance between me and Mr Chidambaram is fully intact,” he said in his message. “Pak-India talks should not be judged mathematically like 2+2=4 but be assessed with past political and diplomatic rival history of two countries in view,” Mr Malik said. He said: “We should be happy that Pakistan and India are now at least interacting on the core issues. Hence meeting between the two FMs should be viewed as a positive step.”
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‘Need Kasab judge account’
Shafqat Ali
Islamabad
Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik has said that the Indian magistrate who recorded statement of 26/11 terror convict Ajmal Kasab should come to Pakistan to give his account. “This is necessary for further action into case. The judge should come to Pakistan and give his account,” Mr Malik said.
“Sans the Indian magistrate’s statement, it is almost impossible to take further correspondence into case,” he told reporters here on Saturday night.
Pakistan is trying several suspects of the Mumbai attacks but India seems dissatisfied with the progress made so far. India — irritated by the go-slow policy of the Pakistani authorities — believes stern action should be taken against the suspects. Mr Malik said the Pakistani government is doing whatever it can to bring the suspects to book.