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Do not blame everything on Pakistan: Kasuri

Washington: Amid sparring over the terror attacks in Mumbai, Pakistan on Thursday said there should be no "knee-jerk reaction" to blame it for "everything happening" in India.

Even before the security agencies could reach any conclusion with regard to those behind the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri gave interviews here to various international media organisations to insist that his country had nothing to do with the terror strikes in India's financial capital.

"Why should there be finger-pointing (at Pakistan) every time?" he asked in an interview to CNN while arguing that high-level government officials from India, both civilian and military, have themselves said that the infiltration across the Line of Control "has calmed down drastically."

"India is a vast country, there are attacks in other parts of India, there should not be a knee-jerk reaction that everything happening in India starts from Pakistan," he said.

Although no one has directly held Pakistan responsible for Tuesday's terror attacks which claimed more than 200 lives, Mr. Kasuri said "... one thing I know, that these people (who are blaming Islamabad) ... are the enemies of the peace process and we condemn this unequivocally. It's a dastardly act. The government of Pakistan, the President, the Prime Minister and I have condemned it unreservedly."

In a separate interview to AP, he said, "You cannot really blame everything on Pakistan. It is very unfair." "It is very unfair to attribute all acts of lawlessness or violence to Pakistan because India is a vast country, there are lots of people who have their own agendas, not just in Kashmir," he said.

Mr. Kasuri's comments came as India once again asked Pakistan to take urgent steps to dismantle the terror infrastructure existing in territories under Islamabad's control. — PTI

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