Indian allegations part of blame game: FO
By Asghar Ali Mubarak

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan on Monday said India's "propagandist" allegations against involvement of its intelligence agency in Mumbai blasts was an effort to divert attention from Indian indigenous elements who were behind the terrorist acts.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam responding to questions at the weekly briefing said Pakistan will cooperate with India if it provided the evidence.
"If India feels it has some information suggesting links here then we will take action and help India in investigation," she said and added that Pakistan has not yet received any evidence from India.
She rejected allegations by the Indian Police Commissioner who claimed that ISI had planned the Mumbai blasts.
"We have repeatedly asked that instead of levelling allegations India should share the evidence with us so that we can cooperate with it," she said.
Tasnim Aslam said Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan and India were in contact and were likely to meet any time after Ramazan. However she did not give any dates.
About the meeting of President Pervez Musharraf with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the NAM summit, she said the core issue of Kashmir has not been put on the backburner.
"Terrorism is a problem that affects us all, including Pakistan, India and other countries and there is no connection between the two," she added.
About the report of Amnesty International citing disappearance of Pakistani citizens, she said the government has to maintain a balance as terrorism was a serious issue.
"Decisions are taken in larger public interest as it has to take into account, both the right of the people to freedom and right of the life of majority of the people."
However she pointed that parts of the report were based on hearsay as it mentions mass disappearances, but that was not the case.
The spokesperson said Pakistan's decision to join the war against terrorism was in national interest and was being done in close collaboration with other countries.
"No country is subjugated and there is no reporting to the other, entire international community is working together [in the war against terrorism]," she said.
About the criticism on handing of al-Qaeda terrorists to the United States, she said, the first priority was to hand them over to their country of origin, but if the refusal of these countries, they were handed over to the Untied States.
When asked about the reward money announced by the United States for assistance in arrest of alleged al- Qaeda terrorists, she said, the money was meant only for individuals and not the government.
On the US sanctions against Iran, Ms Aslam said these were domestic in nature having little international legality.
She pointed at some positive statements made by both the sides in the recent past and hoped the dialogue process would continue and a peaceful solution reached.
Responding to reports about Afghan President Hamid Karzai's statement on religious seminaries in Pakistan, she said the government was already working on a Madrassa reform project.
She said only a handful of such institutions were involved in imparting education that can lead to extremist tendencies and said the government was taking action against these in national interest.
She said the reform package aims at imparting modern education and to prevent them from preaching hatred.