Foreign Minister wishes New Year free from violence

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee wished the upcoming New Year to be free from violence and filled with peace and tranquility in the world. India has witnessed a series of terror attacks in the outgoing 2008 including a three-day assault in Mumbai, in which hundreds of innocent people have lost their lives. New Delhi blamed Islamist militants based in Pakistan for the last month's attacks on Mumbai that killed 195 people. Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals have deteriorated sharply after the attacks.