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| India not Pakistan's enemy, says Miliband |
| Lalit K Jha/PTI / Washington Jul 07, 2009, 11:32 IST |
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India is not a threat to Pakistan, and New Delhi has "better things to do" than end up in a standoff with its neighbour, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said.
"The enemy that Pakistan faces is a domestic terrorist, not a large and successful neighbour India, which has got far better things to do in the world of commerce and politics than end up in a standoff with Pakistan," Miliband said in an interview with CNN.
When pointed out that it was British colonial powers which drew the boundary line between India and Pakistan, causing almost half a million people to die, Miliband said: "We did. And we have to recognise our own history."
At the same time, he was quick to point out: "But remember, 61 years, India is the world's largest and most successful — the largest democracy and the success story of the region."
Pakistan on the other hand, he observed, has had 31 years of military rule and two-thirds of its boundaries were still contested.
"Communities from Baluchistan through to the Punjab split by lines between countries and of course, the Bangladesh experience of the early 1970s. So, you see, let me just make the point that Pakistan has been a society deeply challenged — socioeconomically, politically, geographically — over the last 60 years," Miliband said.
"I think what is important is that countries like Britain and America are engaged in the right way. And we have to support credible strong government in Pakistan that is able to come to grips with its own problems, because it's the mortal threat that their own society faces that is the greatest threat to us," Miliband said.
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