March 30, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 26, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 29: War of words between Pakistan and India hit a new low on Saturday with the Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha equating Pakistani leadership with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

Sinha in an interview with the BBC World on Saturday had said that US call for resumption of dialogue with Pakistan after the killing of 24 Hindu Pundits was “as gratuitous and misplaced” as New Delhi asked Washington to open dialogue with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

The foreign office spokesman on Saturday termed the statement by the Indian foreign minister “as the utterance of an extremely sick and frustrated man who is piqued at the fact that Pakistan has won appreciation of the whole world over its critical and substantive role in the international war against terrorism.”

This was not the first time that Sinha made such a controversial comment. Earlier, at the 13th NAM Summit held in Kuala Lumpur when Sinha was questioned by a reporter about the chances of a Vajpayee-Musharraf handshake, he turned around and said: “Handshake with a terrorist?”

The foreign office spokesman said the Indian leadership seemed to be unnerved by the growing international attention on the need to find a peaceful solution to the festering Kashmir dispute and a sharpening world focus on the systemic harassment and oppression of the Indian minorities.

“Instead of hurling ridiculous accusations the Indian leaders should worry about improving the human rights situation in the occupied Kashmir where some 700,000 security personnel are engaged in state-sponsored genocide,” the spokesman said in reaction to Sinha’s claim of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir.

Sinha asserted that no international war on terror could succeed unless the Western alliance helped put an end to cross-border infiltration from Pakistan. The foreign office said Pakistan had time and again called upon India to see reason and adopt a civilized way of settlement of disputes through a sustained and constructive dialogue.