Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday asserted that India expected Pakistan to sincerely honour its commitment to not to allow its territory to be used for terror against India.
Intervening in the debate on the Indo-Pak Joint Statement in Lok Sabha, the prime minister said, "It is in India's interest that Pakistan has a stable government. However, relations with Pakistan will not improve until Islamabad does not follow its commitment to fight terror in letter and spirit."
We will spare no expense, no effort to defend the nation's sovereignty and integrity, the prime minister said, noting that despite all the friends New Delhi has, the harsh reality of the modern world is that when it comes to matters relating to the country's national security it will have to depend on itself.
Detailing the joint statement, Dr Singh said that he had told his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani not to make a distinction between terrorist organizations and that mere rhetoric by Islamabad that it was a victim of terrorism itself does not help.
"We are not afraid to discuss issues with them. But they must show the same strong and sustained effort against terrorists. We do not dilute our positions and our resolve to defeat terrorism by talking to our neighbours. Pakistan must defeat terrorism before being consumed by it," Dr Singh said, adding that the impression that talks will continue irrespective of whether it takes action against terror organisations operating against India or not was incorrect.
Pakistan's dossier makes it clear that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba inspired, financed and executed the Mumbai attack. This is the first time Islamabad formally briefed us on a terror attack in India," Dr Singh said.
"Pakistan has said five persons, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakvi and Zarar Shah, have been arrested and 13 others declared proclaimed offenders. What we have got from Pakistan is much more than what India had got during NDA regime," the prime minister noted
"The people of India expect Pakistan to fulfill the commitment given in the joint statement of Vajpayee-Musharraf that Islamabad will not allow its territory to be used for terror against India. That is a common national consensus in India," he added.
In apparent reference to mention of Baluchistan in the joint statement, Dr Singh said, "We know we are not doing anything wrong and ours is an open book. We have nothing to hide and we are willing to discuss anything."
On End-Use Monitoring agreement with US, the prime minister said there was no provision for unilateral inspection of Indian facilities by the United States. "It will be on a mutually decided basis. There is no provision for on-site inspection or inspection of military areas," he said.
"My understanding is that there is no consensus in the Nuclear Suppliers Group to bar India from accessing enrichment and reprocessing technologies," he said, adding, "It is our expectation that in future, the Nuclear Suppliers' Group will keep the special status of India as a non-signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty when it gave clean exemption last year for civil nuclear cooperation while deciding on giving enrichment and reprocessing technologies."
