New Delhi, Jan 19: Flaying Pakistan's five-decade old anti-India policy, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh has said it was in Islamabad's self-interest that it reviewed its policy towards New Delhi and normalised ties.
''It is in Pakistan's national interest that it stops pursuing an anti-India policy and terrorism as an instrument of its state policy,'' Singh told a news agency on the sidelines of a function here.
''Islamabad has achieved little by adopting a hostile attitude towards India which is better governed and economically more powerful than Pakistan,'' he said.
Pakistan should refrain from sponsoring and abetting the terror groups which would not only help restore peace in the sub-continent but also enable it to resurrect its economy, the minister noted.
On Washingtion's 'soft attitude' towards Islamabad, Singh said although the bush administration had repeatedly advised Pakistan to put a permanent end to cross-border terrorism it had taken very little action on the ground.
''However, the entire international community today has acknowledged that Pakistan is the breeding ground of terrorism and it finds itself isolated,'' the minister said.
Asked whether 'Operation Parakram' was a success, he said, ''the ten-month long troop deployment along the Indo-Pak border has achieved its objective.''
On Pakistan's growing ties with Russia, Singh said, ''we have nothing to worry. Our relations with Moscow are deep and time-tested.''
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf will pay a three-day official visit to Russia from February 4 on the invitation of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. He would be the first Pakistan President to travel to Moscow after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1989.
''New Delhi wants Gen Musharraf to meet as many heads of state as possible. They would advise him to stop pursuing terrorism as a state policy,'' the minister said.
On the increasing ISI and al Qaeda activities in Bangladesh, Singh said, ''we have already intimated the Bangla authorities. We hope they will take necessary measures.''
Dismissing charges by other South Asian countries that New Delhi was trying to emerge as a regional 'superpower', Singh said, ''we are not trying to project such an image. India is not a hegemon.''
India wanted all its neighbours to develop financially so that there was a decline in illegal migration, he pointed out.
Bureau Report
