Peace process under stress, says India: Islamabad asks Delhi to stop blame-game

NEW DELHI  - India on Monday said its peace process with Pakistan was “under stress”, repeating allegations that “elements” in Islamabad were behind this month’s suicide attack against its Kabul embassy.
But a Pakistani diplomat in India for peace talks angrily rejected the claims, and challenged India to provide evidence to back up the accusation.
In some tough-talking, Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said the attack on the Kabul embassy which left dozens dead, including India’s military attache and a diplomat, had strained relations between the two countries, but that talks should continue.
After the fifth round of the Indo-Pak composite dialogue on peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir and other Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), Menon told reporters, “All our information... points to elements in Pakistan being behind the blast,” Menon told reporters in New Delhi.
“The dialogue process is stressed, and it will certainly affect our relations with Pakistan,” the Indian Foreign Secretary said after talks with his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir as part of the peace process the two nuclear-armed rivals launched in 2004.
“We, India, expect our concerns to be addressed,” the Indian Foreign Secretary said.
But he added: “We consider it important that the dialogue process should continue.”
In a separate news conference in New Delhi, visiting Pakistani Secretary Salman Bashir rejected Menon’s comments on the peace process and strongly denied Pakistan was involved in the embassy bombing.
“We must refrain from this blame-game which we have played too long and it has got us nowhere,” Bashir said
“If they share this intelligence we will ally any misgivings they have, but it’s wrong to point fingers without evidence.”