India should not allow Saeed to hijack bilateral ties: Pakistani envoy

By Tarun Basu and Manish Chand, New Delhi, Nov 4 : India should not allow one individual, Hafiz Saeed, to hold the entire bilateral relationship hostage, says Pakistan's envoy to India, making a strong pitch for the resumption of the composite dialogue, days ahead of a crucial meeting between Indian and Pakistani leaders.

Despite the growing exasperation in India over the "tardy pace of investigations" against the Mumbai terror accused, the envoy insisted that Pakistan had taken "concrete action" against 26/11 perpetrators and underlined that the democratic regime in Islamabad offered a "historic opportunity" to India to make peace.

"Why should one individual be allowed to hold hostage the entire India-Pakistan relationship? Hafiz Saeed can't be the touchstone," Pakistan High Commissioner in India Shahid Malik said in an interview to IANS.

"The Pakistan government has gone in appeal (against a Lahore court's decision to free Saeed). That process is continuing," Malik said when asked about India making action against Saeed the touchstone of Islamabad's sincerity in addressing its concerns over cross-border terror.

"The law of the jungle does not operate in Pakistan. The due process of law has to take course," he emphasised.

A Lahore court freed Saeed, the founder of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba-turned Jammat-ud-Dawa who is suspected by India to be the mastermind of the Mumbai carnage, citing lack of evidence against him.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna was quick to slam Saeed's release as "regrettable" and underlined that the move has "put under a cloud" Pakistan's "seriousness" to bring the 26/11 perpetrators to book.

"We have made repeated offers to restart dialogue. How do you define concrete action? We feel we are taking these steps; we have started taking action against terror suspects," Malik said, when asked about the constant refrain in India's response that Pakistan has yet to take concrete action against the butchers of 26/11 and the larger anti-India terror on the Pakistani soil.

"On Oct 10, we started the trial of the seven accused. That was a big step forward. That should have gone well in India. In addition, 13 persons have been declared proclaimed offenders. We have requested the Interpol to trace them."

Days before the leaders of India and Pakistan meet in the Trinidadian capital Port of Spain on the sidelines of the Commonwealth summit in yet another bid to thaw the bilateral freeze, the envoy struck an optimistic note about the resumption of the composite dialogue process - including every conceivable subject from trade to Kashmir in its ambit - that stalled after the Mumbai terror spree in November last year.

"The vibes are positive. For an Indian prime minister to make such remarks on three consecutive days sends a very positive signal. We lost no time in welcoming them," Malik said, alluding to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh extending "the hand of friendship" to Pakistan during his visit to Jammu and Kashmir last week.

The next day, at a press conference in Srinagar, the prime minister reinforced his peace offer, saying there are "no preconditions" for resuming dialogue, but linked such a prospect to Islamabad's action against terror. On Oct 30, Manmohan Singh repeated the same point.

"Things are on hold. What gives me reason for optimism is a desire at the highest level of political leadership to improve relations," Malik said, while indicating that efforts were afoot to resume the dialogue between the two estranged countries.

"There should be no doubt in anybody's mind about Pakistan's commitment to peace with India," he added.

He exhorted the Indian leadership to engage with the democratic regime in Pakistan that, he stressed, offered the "best hope" for durable peace between the two countries.

"The democratic dispensation in Pakistan offers the best hope to taking the relationship forward with India. India should take advantage of it. It offers a historic opportunity for making peace with India."

When asked about a rethink among some sections in India about the form of the composite dialogue, which they feel has not addressed its central concern about cross-border terror, the envoy said: "Composite dialogue in its current form is the only way forward.

"Composite dialogue covers an entire gamut of India-Pakistan relations. This is the best way forward."

Making a strong case for invigorating people-to-people relations, the envoy said: "People-to-people contacts, sporting links and composite dialogue have to move in tandem. The overall improvement in atmospherics and the India-Pakistan relations has to be seen in a holistic manner. Dialogue is the only way forward."

Alluding to a track II meeting of the so-called Neemrana group between the Indian side led by M.K. Rasgotra, former foreign secretary, and the Pakistani side led by Inam-ul Haq, a former foreign minister and former foreign secretary, last month, the envoy said such initiatives showed that the conversation between the two countries had not ceased despite the atmosphere of suspicion and hostility following the 26/11 attacks.

"Students from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) visited India recently. Women journalists from India visited Pakistan under the SAFMA initiative. They all show the desire of people for peace and dialogue," the envoy said.