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Sumir Kaul in New Delhi
Sounding a note of caution, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said whenever India hoped that Pakistan would respond positively to its friendly gestures, some major mischief happened.
"One needs to study the history seriously. Ever since the period of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to present President Pervez Musharraf, we have only got tall claims with no truth," Abdullah said.
Zulfikar Bhutto had agreed to a solution of Kashmir issue with then prime minister Indira Gandhi, but the former backtracked once he was back to Islamabad.
"Similarly, when India tried to improve relations with Zia-ul-Haq, we got militancy, Kargil with Nawaz Sharif and October one and December 13 attacks in response to Agra summit with Musharraf," Abdullah said.
He asked "Now why should any Indian trust the people in power in Islamabad?"
"Though India always favoured a vibrant and free Pakistan, we only got a bundle of lies and tall claims lacking sincerity," he added.
"Pakistan's continued policy of supporting Islamic terrorism over the years has made every Muslim a suspect in the world today," Abdullah said.
To a question whether India should completely ignore the statement made by Musharraf on tackling religious extremism in his country, Abdullah said, "There is no point in our going gaga over the statement. Pakistan has reiterated its stand on Kashmir. These policies had earned a bad name to Muslims around the world and everyone following Islam, which teaches peace, brotherhood and love, was a suspect."
Abdullah said peace and brotherhood could be visualised in the South Asian region only after Pakistan, leaving behind the usual rhetoric, stated that it will destroy terrorist training camps and stop any support to militants in the valley.
"Till this time all regimes in Pakistan have been proved to be suspect in this regard," he said.
"The fundamentalist elements have made deep inroads into the army and bureaucracy of Pakistan which need to be overhauled completely," Abdullah said.
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