Pak slams world pressure,seeks Indias cooperation

Pakistan's military issued a blunt call on Tuesday for outside powers to stop demanding it do more and prove its sincerity in the campaign against militancy...

Pakistan’s military issued a blunt call on Tuesday for outside powers to stop demanding it do more and prove its sincerity in the campaign against militancy even as Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called for cooperation between India and Pakistan to fight thenefarious forces of terrorism.

The chief of Pakistans Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee,General Tariq Majid,bemoaned repetitive rhetoric by some of the external players asking Pakistan to do more and prove its sincerity. Majid said that such unhelpful statements must stop but did not refer to any country or to the US Central Command chief General David Petraeus,who arrived in Pakistan earlier for talks with government and military leaders. British Defence Secretary John Hutton was also in Pakistan this week.

International players must come out from the coercive mindset and instead start delivering on the promised capacity assistance,Majid said in a statement.

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Petraeus met President Asif Ali Zardari and Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani for talks that included Pakistans response to the Mumbai attacks. Petraeus,who did not refer to Majids statement,told reporters that it was in the interest of all countries concerned that Pakistan succeed in dealing with its internal problems.

Meanwhile,seeking resumption of the peace process and a constructive engagement with India,Pakistan on Tuesday said it was committed to a cooperative approach to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice. It was important for Pakistan and India to chart the way forward on anti-terrorism cooperation, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told members of a Pakistani peace mission scheduled to visit India.

Pakistan believes that sustained engagement and dialogue is necessary to allay each others concerns, Qureshi said. He also called for cooperation between the two countries to jointly fight the nefarious forces of terrorism,which are the common enemy of the people of India and Pakistan.

The India-Pakistan composite dialogue process,which began in 2004,was put on hold by New Delhi in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks. India has so far rejected Pakistans calls for resuming the talks,saying it needs to do more to bring perpetrators of the attacks to justice.

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Pointing to the considerable progress made through the composite dialogue towards confidence-building,bilateral trade and people-to-people contacts,Qureshi said: Breakdown of dialogue only works to the advantage of the terrorists. Conflict,confrontation and tensions are exactly what the terrorists want. We should not walk into their trap. It is important to show statesmanship.