
Pakistan made it clear on Friday that it would not accept any pre-condition for resumption of the stalled peace process with India.
Islamabad made its stand clear while reacting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assertion that for the resumption of dialogue, Pakistan must meet the "minimum pre-condition" of ensuring that its soil will not be used for terror activities against India.
"We should move forward and not backwards. By putting conditions, we would be going backward," said Pakistan Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar.
Asked about the pre-condition set by Singh, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said, "When we have a dialogue we cannot have pre-conditions."
Babar insisted that Pakistan had "fully cooperated and is still cooperating" with India in investigating the Mumbai attacks to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Addressing a press conference at the end of the G-20 Summit last evening, Singh said, "India is willing to discuss bilaterally all outstanding issues, including Kashmir. It (Pakistan) has to convince us that it is absolutely sincere in bringing to book the culprits of the attack on Mumbai."
India put the composite dialogue on hold following the Mumbai attacks on November 26 that killed over 180 people. New Delhi has blamed Pakistan-based elements, including the banned Lashker-e-Taiba group for the strike and urged Islamabad to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Singh made it clear that discussions with Pakistan cannot proceed if hundreds of people are being killed, as had happened in the case of the Mumbai attacks.
The Indian leader said that Pakistan must do everything to bring all culprits involved in the Mumbai terror attack to the book. "The ball is in the court of Pakistan."
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