New Delhi, August 01: Maintaining that the people of India were behind the government’s approach to “engage” Pakistan, Union Minister Salman Khursheed on Saturday said dialogue was necessary to take things forward with Islamabad.
Asked if he believed the people of India favoured reconciliation with the neighbouring country, Khursheed said: “I am convinced people are behind the government’s decision.”
“India is not a jingoistic country, though temporarily we might get excited. War is not the solution and there cannot be a single approach to the problem always,” he said on the sidelines of a seminar here.
The Union Minister for Corporate and Minority Affairs said while in the immediate aftermath of the Mumbai attacks it was not viable to have a dialogue, but “things have moved forward” since.
“Things have moved forward, though not as much as we wanted. There has been admission on Pakistan’s part that the attackers were from that country. We hope for more progress and need to engage Islamabad for that,” he told reporters.
The opposition had attacked the government on the Indo-Pak joint statement of Sharm-el-Sheikh, saying that New Delhi has conceded too much.
Asked if he had taken note of allegations made by actor Emraan Hashmi that he was denied a house in a residential society in Mumbai on communal grounds, he said: “I have taken note of it as a human being, but as a minister the issue does not fall in my ambit.”
–Agencies