Pak says doesn't want war with India

Amid mounting world pressure on it, Pakistan today said it does not war with India and noted that "friendly countries" are working to defuse tensions between the two neighbours.

"Pakistan is a peace-loving country. We don't want to have war or aggression," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said addressing a function on the occasion of the first death anniversary of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

"We want to have friendly relations with our neighbours -- Afghanistan and India," Gilani said.

He noted that "friendly countries" are working to defuse tension between India and Pakistan.

His comments came a day after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee suggested that Pakistan was trying to create "war hysteria" to divert attention from the "real issue" of taking action against those responsible for the Mumbai attacks.

 

Mukherjee is understood to have conveyed this view to his counterparts from the US, Saudi Arabia, China and Iran when he talked to them on Thursday and yesterday.

Pressure of the world community on Pakistan is mounting which is reflected by the latest statement by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, who said that perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks must be "eliminated" and that Islamabad has still a "lot to do" in combating terrorism.

Gilani said last night in Lahore that war is not in the interest of any country and all issues should be resolved through dialogue.

Pakistan wants peace and will not initiate any military aggression, he said.