ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last week declared that there was a difference between Sikh militancy and the Kashmiri struggle and said she stood by the BBC interview as Pakistan had neither interfered in the internal affairs of India nor does it want to do so.
Ms. Bhutto said her Government had launched a diplomatic initiative that had put India on the defensive and expressed the hope that Kashmir would exercise their right of self-determination during the tenure of her Government.
The Prime Minister was responding to the speech of Leader of the Opposition Nawaz Sharif in the National Assembly in which he accused her of having damaged the interest of the country by stating in a BBC interview that Pakistan had helped the late Rajiv Gandhi in combating Sikh militancy
There is a difference between the masses of the Sikh separatist movement and the Kashmiris Pakistan has to demonstrate internationally that it abides by the international laws Ms. Bhutto told the House.
She said had Pakistan intended to interfere in the internal affairs of India it could have done so while there was insurgency in Punjab. But we do not want to interfere in the internal affairs of India.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 11, 1994
