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Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 28, 2007
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Await probe report: Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

“Accusation of Islamabad’s role in Hyderabad blasts a conjecture”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday played down the accusation by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of a Pakistan hand in the Hyderabad blasts, but suggested it would have been better for those making these statements to await the result of the investigations.

“I have not seen any official statements; I have only seen statements attributed to some Chief Minister,” said Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam, when asked about the accusations at a weekly briefing.

She condemned the terrorist acts in Hyderabad and said Pakistan was itself a victim of terrorism and was committed to fight it in its own national interests.

Declining to comment on the accusation of a Pakistan hand in the blasts, the spokeswoman dismissed it as “conjecture,” but said “it’s always better to investigate incidents of terrorism than to start speculating.”

Earlier this year, the two countries set up an anti-terror mechanism to avert tensions that always follow statements of the kind articulated by Mr. Reddy.

The mechanism was supposed to be a platform where such concerns could be aired, and through it, India and Pakistan were also to provide assistance to each other in the investigation and prevention of terrorist acts on either side.

No more meetings yet

The mechanism met here for the first time in March this year, and agreed to meet every three months. But no further meetings have yet taken place.

The spokesperson said the Foreign Ministry was awaiting an official to take up his posting as Additional Secretary in the Ministry who would head the anti-terror mechanism from the Pakistan side, and that the meetings schedule would be fixed thereafter.

An official in the Indian High Commission said India, whose turn it was to host the next meeting, would shortly propose dates.

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