Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday reached out to the families of the Mumbai blast victims, said Pakistan stood united in strongly condemning the terrorist attack, and reiterated his Government's offer of cooperation in the investigations if New Delhi provided evidence.

He appealed to New Delhi not to make unsubstantiated allegations, as this would give the terrorists the victory they were seeking.

In an address to the nation, President Musharraf expressed solidarity with the people of Mumbai, and said his country was "deeply saddened" that so many innocent people lost their lives.

"I want to send out a message to the public of Mumbai that we are deeply saddened that so many innocent people lost their lives in this terrorist attack. I offer my condolences to the families of the victims. The people and the Government of Pakistan and I are with you," he said in his 90-minute address, carried by all television networks in Pakistan.

But he expressed unhappiness with India's conduct after the blasts. "At this time, I would also like to take the opportunity to say that the Indian Government's behaviour is saddening. To say that the peace and dialogue process should be postponed, or stopped because of the Mumbai attacks is to hand a victory to the terrorists. This is exactly what [the terrorists] want, that the peace process and the normalisation process be stopped. I am sure this is not what the Government of India desires."

The two countries were to hold Foreign Secretary-level talks from Thursday as part of the composite dialogue process.

Avoid blame-game

He said it was not right to begin a blame-game at this time. "To name and blame, this is the first sign of weakness, the first sign of defeat. We must think carefully before making comments, no one must make unsubstantiated comments," he said.

"I want to tell the Indian Government: I assure you that in tracking down terrorists, or even a particular organisation, we will give you complete co-operation. If you give us proof, evidence, we will fully co-operate with you in the investigations. We are fully with you in tracking down whoever carried out this attack and caused so much damage to you," he said.

Pakistan was itself a victim of terrorism and extremism, and was part of an international coalition in the war on terror.

"Pakistan is engaged relentlessly in fighting terrorism and extremism and, inshallah, we are succeeding. Please trust us when we say that we stand with you in eliminating this menace."

President Musharraf said terrorist attacks in India, unrest in Afghanistan and the crisis in West Asia all risked causing instability in Pakistan.

He rejected the recent Afghan claims that Islamabad had not done enough to curb the insurgents. Pakistan and Afghanistan were in the fight together, and Kabul must not engage in finger-pointing, he said.

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