Peace process with Pakistan not firm yet

WASHINGTON, Tuesday (AFP)

Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here that the peace process with Pakistan was still not firmly in place despite positive results from negotiations launched one-and-a-half years ago by the nuclear rivals.

Mukherjee accused Pakistan of not doing enough to dismantle the "infrastructure for terrorism" in Pakistan-held Kashmir and challenged the neighbour to cooperate with India as it has done with the United States on the "war on terror."

"At the same time, we cannot still say for sure that the peace process is entrenched," said Mukherjee at a public forum in Washington on Monday while on an official visit to the United States.

"The infrastructure for terrorism in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled territory, remains," he said. "We do not hear of operations like the ones being conducted by Pakistan, in cooperation with the US against the war on terrorism at its western frontiers, towards its eastern borders with India."

Mukherjee also referred to the restricted nature of trade and transport links with Pakistan to highlight uncertain peace prospects.

"More importantly from the point of view of our strategic interests, trade and transit with and through Pakistan remain highly circumscribed," he said.

"It is only when India and Pakistan resume direct, bilateral trade and transit, that there will be vested interest in peace in both countries," he added.