Pak seeks resumption of composite dialogue process

Islamabad has called for resumption of the composite dialogue process with India and has said that by rejecting talks New Delhi was “promoting and strengthening the hands of terror.” HT Correspondent reports.

Islamabad has called for resumption of the composite dialogue process with India and has said that by rejecting talks New Delhi was “promoting and strengthening the hands of terror.”

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“I understand your concern. You can only address that concern by cooperating with Pakistan and not accusing Pakistan. That negative policy will not be in your interest,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told Karan Thapar’s Devil’s Advocate programme on CNN-IBN.

“We had in place a process or the composite dialogue. Unfortunately, the tragic Mumbai incident put that on hold. I would be interested in re-starting that process because I feel that was a meaningful process, we were making incremental progress,” he said.

Qureshi’s remarks come a couple of days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it clear that dialogue with Pakistan will not resume unless it gives sincere evidence of its willingness to prosecute those involved in the Mumbai terror attacks.

Pakistan, Qureshi said, was in the process of restructuring the ISI. “Now we are in the process of restructuring ISI. ISI has been cleansed,” he said, adding that the present leadership of the ISI is very clear of the challenges of tackling terrorism and extremism. “Without ISI’s help you could not have apprehended the 700 or so Al-Qaeda operatives. ISI has done more than any other organisation has done,” he said.