Pakistan has said India could not be allowed to act as accuser, prosecutor and judge.
"Pakistan has done all it could to stop violence and it was India's turn to start negotiations," Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri told reporters on Friday night reacting to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's assertion that Indo-Pak talks can't start unless violence was stopped.
He said Pakistan has urged the international community to deploy neutral monitors to ascertain the allegations of infiltration. "We cannot allow India to be the accuser, prosecutor, judge," he said.
He, however, maintained that Pakistan was even ready for 'talks tomorrow'.
Kasuri also said that Indian leaders should not hold Pakistan-India relations 'hostage' to the internal Indian politics.
He contended the difference in approach by Pakistan and Indian government was evident from the 'positive treatment' given to Indian parliamentarians by the Pakistan government.
In his rejoinder to Vajpayee's statement, Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said "The allegations leveled by the Indians on Pakistan are far-fetched and lacked credibility."
Khan said it was a good omen that the Indians are talking about normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir but the onus was clearly on the Indian government to bring normalcy there.
To a question, he told PTV that Pakistan has nothing to do with attacks in India and rejects all allegations. The Indian leaders are using these allegations for 'political opportunism and for electoral gain'.
Calling for sustaining the peace process, he said, "Pakistan is not desperate for talks. Pakistan knows very well that the international community supports this point of view and early resumption of talks would be the first concrete step towards the resolution of the difficult issues between India and Pakistan."
On the list of terror suspects submitted by India to Pakistan, Khan said no Indian suspect was present on the Pakistani soil and India has never provided any evidence that these suspects are on the Pakistan soil.
Meanwhile, Jamali told reporters in Karachi last night that a Pakistani team would travel to India to continue negotiations on resuming air links.
"Initiation of dialogue itself is good. The best result is that a dialogue has resumed. The Indian delegation has come here and a Pakistani delegation will go there," Jamali said.
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