July 12, 2006 ☼ Foreign Affairs ☼ Security
This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
Gen Musharraf himself was quick off the mark in condemning the terrorist attacks. But less than 24 hours after the serial bomb blasts on Mumbai’s local trains, Khurshid Kasuri, Pakistan’s foreign minister had this to say:
After condemning the Mumbai train blasts, Pakistan has said the ‘best way’ of dealing with extremism in South Asia is to tackle ‘real issue’ of Jammu and Kashmir. [Rediff]
And this:
“We need to take steps in which extremism is discouraged. Extremism in one religion leads to extremism in the other,” he said. [Rediff]
Those inclined to be charitable may suggest that Kasuri’s exasperation with the “slow progress on Kashmir” caused him to say this at an inopportune time. Still, it shows what how they think out there in Pakistan.
But there is little reason to be charitable. Supporting terrorism was Pakistan’s chosen way to get India to the table. That has changed little. Kasuri has demonstrated that Pakistan continues to brazenly use any act of terrorism to push its point on Kashmir. It is condemning terrorism as ‘despicable’, all right. Only, as usual, it is seeking to benefit from it too.
Update: Reports indicate that Kasuri’s comments have not been well-received by his Indian counterparts.
Another Update: Kasuri does not stop digging. He does not think that he is in a hole.
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