Ruling out war as an option, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday reinforced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s position that “We can’t erase Pakistan. It’s going to exist. War is no solution,” Mukherjee said while underlining the importance of keeping talks going with Pakistan.
He further said there was no alternative but to keep talking to Pakistan, but made it clear that there was no surrender by the government on the issue of combating cross-border terrorism.
“Neither have we succumbed to terrorism nor will we stop talking,” Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha during a debate on issues arising from the prime minister’s foreign visits, including his trip to Egypt where he met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Action on terror was independent of any composite dialogue, he asserted.
“The NDA did it. The UPA did it. This is the way the world of diplomacy moves,” Mukherjee said while reminding parliament that over the last ten years, governments across the political spectrum in India kept talking to Pakistan despite brief disruptions after terrorist attacks.
Mukherjee, who was foreign minister when the Mumbai attacks took place, clarified that talking did not mean the resumption of a full-fledged dialogue.
“Keeping channels open does not mean surrendering our position on terrorism,” Mukherjee stressed, adding that Pakistan must act credibly and verifiably to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure operating from it’s soil.
He also defended the inclusion of Balochistan in the July 16 Pak-India joint statement saying a unilateral reference does not mean giving credibility to Pakistan’s allegations of any Indian role in unrest in Pakistan’s southwest province.
“We have no role to play in Balochistan,” he said.