Liberal visa regime with India finalised, may be signed soon: Malik
Talking to media in Tehran where he attended the 16th Summit of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM), the interior minister said Pakistan wants friendly relations with India and that it was going out of its way to ensure better relations with its immediate neighbour in some cases.
Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna is due to visit Pakistan from September 7-9.
Malik, who has accompanied President Asif Ali Zardari during his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, termed the meeting as "excellent" and said both countries were heading in the right direction to resolve all the outstanding issues.
The interior minister however said that it was necessary for the two states to identify their common enemy which does not want friendly relations between them.
"We would not allow anyone to exploit the situation," he added.
Malik referred to many incidents when Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) was accused of wrongdoings in India but were in fact acts committed by Indian elements.
“All those responsible for creating misunderstandings between the two countries must be stopped as they want to achieve peace at any cost,” he said.
Talking about the progress on Mumbai attacks case, Malik said Pakistan has taken several steps to bring the culprits to justice. He however said that the commission sent by Pakistan had demanded that the three major witnesses be cross examined.
“Once the cross examination report is available, the Pakistani courts can proceed on the matter,” he said.
He explained that it was a very complex situation where non-state actors, both from Pakistan and India, were involved. Malik also mentioned David Headly, whom he described as a 'triple agent'.
“Frequent interaction between the leadership of India and Pakistan will help improve the environment,” he said.
Speaking about Hafiz Saeed, Malik said all the allegations against him were based on hearsay. “We have repeatedly said that if India has some solid evidence, it should give it to us,” he reiterated.
Responding to a question about the alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Abu Jandal, the interior minister said he was a part of a sting operation and added that such issues can only be addressed if the countries are determined to fight terrorism.
He also urged the media to verify the facts, as it could damage relationship between the two countries.
COMMENTS (12)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Most indian commentators here trolls. I have hindu friends in India right now who are excited at this news. They want us to come. We want them to come visit. This is where the majority stands save the few extremist BJP/RSS hindus.
Unbelievable but true............India is the home of deadly diseases! According to Dr. Singh, medical consultant of DAHW, in India every 3 minutes 2 people die and app. 5000 get infected from this virus every day. Almost 40% of the Indian population is infected with TB virus. TB bacteria is spread from person to person through the air by mere inhalation in order for infection to occur.
I would not suggest elderly people or people with weak immune system to ever travel to India. The very first sardarji or bihari babu at the waga border could be contagious.....hanste jayo ge aur been karte ayo ge, and your life is very valuable!
@Deepjyoti Gogoi: As such problems in India are less ? I think our government has to start implementing better law and order to protect it's people and not always expect others to do their part ( which they ideally should ) .....But this is not perfect world, so India should improvise in it's security and law and order infrastructure rather than hoping for others to solve their problem. I am Indian before you doubt my allegiance and I would hope my tax money goes in empowering cops and improving their life style and give their family better support so they can focus on duty rather than going the under the table route to fulfill their basic needs. I would rather have Supreme Court remove the Colonial era rules and make it easy for people to report crime and suspicions rather than getting subjected to daily visit to police station and courts for cross examination of their statement. Encourage police department to invest in more forensic knowledge to create solid evidence against crime and less rely on recorded statement which are becoming more and more difficult to support in todays' legal system. I am sure if we have better politicians, sound development across all sectors, better law and order and removing certain colonial laws ( like charges of sedition ) , we won't have to fear terrorist attacks. You can't ask bully to change their ways, but you can become stronger to prevent bully from messing up with you.
It's too early to liberalise visas etc etc.
@jerseybb:
I seriously doubt anyone gives a rip whether you come or not. It is your "strategic assets" that Deep was referring too.
Deepjyoti
India would be the last country I would want to if I have to leave Pakistan, kindly abandon your complexes
The silver lining is the Hindus of Pakistan can get the visas easily to India. Lets give visas to Hindus easily and fill the quota which will be set. Let us help them out.
I sincerely hope that Mr. Krishna finds one pretext or another to delaying signing a liberalized visa regime. Bangladeshis and Pakistanis need to be kept out of India. Enhanced contacts will bring law and order problems to India.
Leaving some good people in Pakistan , i am sure the rest is going to create problems for India. I think we are better what we have today.
Last time it was not a good photo op. Krishna is coming and I want a picture with him. Mark my words he will sign the document during Krishna's visit.