Kasuri blames PPP Govt for failing to keep good relations with India

Lahore, Jan. 8 (ANI): Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri has slammed the PPP-led Government for failing to maintain ties with India - even at the level left by the Pervez Musharraf regime.

The Dawn quoted Kasuri, as saying that the Sir Creek dispute was on the verge of being signed during his tenure as foreign minister from 2002 to 2007, but the progress over the issue got stalled after the formation of the new government.

Kasuri said he regretted that the "inept" PPP government could not properly deal with the South Asian neighbour and worsened the ties.

He claimed that direct trade with New Delhi had increased to two billion dollars from 20 million dollars when he was looking after foreign affairs.

On the human rights issue, he said both the states were putting up the cases of each other's citizens held as prisoners for minor crimes before the judiciary for finding ways to release them.

Similarly, he said, people-to-people contacts were so strong that during cricket matches Pakistani fans would carry Indian flags and vice versa.

Rejecting the claim that last year's Mumbai terror attacks worsened Indo-Pak relations, he said there had been a terror attack on Samjhota Express but ties between the two countries never suffered this much. (ANI)