PAK NEEDS TO SHED PATH OF TERRORISM ; PM NEWS . zeenews.com

Pak needs to shed path of terrorism: PM

Zeenews Bureau

On Board Air India One, July 11: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said that he had asked influential countries of the G-8 and G-5 to exert pressure on Pakistan to leave the path of terrorism and choose friendship with India.

Dr Singh also expressed hope that he would come out of his meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani next week in Egypt convinced that Pakistan will bring to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai "massacre" and not allow terrorism directed against India from its soil.

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The PM, who returned to New Delhi today after a four-day trip to Italy where he attended the summits of G-8 and G-5 leaders, was speaking to reporters onboard his special aircraft, on his way back home.

Dr Singh said he had taken up the problem of terrorism directed against India from Pakistani soil during his interaction with leaders of the industrialised and emerging economies.

"Wherever I have talked to leaders in the G-8 and G-5 fora, there is appreciation that India has been a victim of terrorism for the last 25 years and there is a lot of evidence (of that emerging from Pakistan). Our appeal is to all the leaders and we have told them put pressure on Pakistan to leave the path of terrorism and take the path of friendship and go forward in the relations with India," he said.

He was replying to a question whether there has been anything "positive" done by Pakistan on India's demands after his meeting with President Asif Zardari in Yekaterinburg in Russia last month and whether India was seeking international pressure on Islamabad to check terrorism directed against it from there.

Singh said after discussions with Zardari in Egypt, the High Commissioners in both the countries and the Foreign Offices have talked and Pakistan's ISI has been talked to.

They have suggested that they would convey the actions they were taking on India's demands on action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror strike, he said.

To a question on the current impasse with Pakistan, he said India and Pakistan were close neighbours. "We can choose our friends but we have no choice about our neighbours. India wants to realise its ambitions on development and that requires peace with neighbours."

"We will do all that is necessary to resolve outstanding issues that have bedevilled our relations with Pakistan. But that requires evidence that it will deal with terrorist elements who spend all their energy to disrupt and destabilise India," Singh said.