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Pakistan has expressed serious concern over Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's remarks that "terrorists have to be neutralised only through terrorists," saying his comments confirms its suspicion about India's involvement in terrorism.
"This statement only confirms Pakistan's apprehensions about India's involvement in terrorism in Pakistan," said Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs while reacting to Parrikar's statement.
"It must be the first time that a minister of an elected government openly advocates use of terrorism in another country on the pretext of preventing terrorism from that country or its non-state actors," Aziz was quoted as saying in a statement by the Foreign Office on Saturday.
He said Pakistan sincerely pursues a policy of good neighbourly relations with India.
"Terrorism is our common enemy and it is vital for the two countries to work together to defeat this menace, from which Pakistan has suffered much more than almost any other country," he said.
On Thursday, asserting that terrorists have to be neutralised only through terrorists, Parrikar had said India will take "pro-active" steps to prevent a 26/11 type attacks hatched from a foreign soil.
"There are certain things that I obviously cannot discuss here. But if there is any country, why only Pakistan, planning something against my country, we will definitely take some pro-active steps," Parrikar had said.
The minister had used Hindi phrase kante se kanta nikalna (removing a thorn with a thorn) and wondered why Indian soldiers should be used to neutralise terrorists.
Earlier, senior Pakistani officials including army chief General Raheel Sharif and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry in recent statements have accused India's external intelligence agency RAW of fanning militancy in Pakistan.