LAHORE, Aug 6: Islamabad wants continuation of the peace process with New Delhi at all costs despite blaming by the latter, Federal Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani told a press conference here on Sunday.

“We had been showing a positive attitude in the past and will continue to do so in future as well.”

He, however, said the zeal behind a permanent peace (with New Delhi) was not because of any weakness but for the prosperity of the people of the region. He said the leadership which would sabotage this process would be taken to task by its own people who were longing for peace.

Referring to Indian government’s allegations that Pakistan-backed terrorists were involved in the attack on its parliament in December 2001 and the recent Mumbai train blasts, he said unlike New Delhi, Islamabad had not indulged in the blame game since initiation of the peace process and this showed sincerity of the latter for the cause of regional peace.

The Indian government had, however, been always conveyed that the way to durable peace passed through resolving the core issues between Islamabad and New Delhi, that is, Kashmir, he said.

Pakistan, he said, believed that the issues like Kashmir could not be solved through conflicts and both the governments would have to come to the negotiation table for the purpose.

He said the Vajpayee government had taken some daring steps and Pakistan had reciprocated them while some positive progress was made through confidence building measures.

The Congress government, he said, was not coming out with any concrete development and the warmth being shown by Islamabad was not being reciprocated, though Gen Musharraf had given several proposals through his “media diplomacy”.

Mr Durrani said the number of Indian consulate offices close to Pakistan border in Afghanistan were a question mark but Islamabad had taken up this issue through proper channel instead of resorting to the blame game.

Answering a question, he said as there was no mystery involved in the Kargil episode there was no need to set up any probe commission as was being demanded by the opposition. The issue, he said, was being exploited by some people for political gains at the cost of national interests.

The same people during their regime had given promotions to those (army officers) against whom a probe commission was being demanded, Mr Durrani said.

“It’s time for bifurcating politics and national interests and those who will not do so will be rejected by the masses.”

Replying to a query about the MQM and PML’s ongoing controversy in Sindh, he said it was because of a misunderstanding that had now been resolved.

He blamed a lack of coordination for the state of affairs and said now it had been decided that all coalition partners would meet fortnightly to avoid any such happening in future.

He claimed that the MQM leaders did not call on President Musharraf owing to a misunderstanding caused by a news report.

Answering another query, he said the opposition should first define itself to help the government respond to their demands. The opposition was dispersed and this situation would persist until they started trusting the masses, he said.

“They had been trying to launch the anti-government movement for the last four years but they could not amass the support of their MPs, not to speak of the people.”

The opposition, he said, was doing politics on a daily wages basis as one day the ARD decides to go alone against the government and the next day it seeks help of the MMA, a reference to the no-confidence threat against the prime minister given by the ARD at its recent London meeting.

Mr Durrani claimed that he could officially say the local leadership of the ARD was against the no-confidence plans as it wanted the assemblies to complete their terms. —Staff Reporter