Pakistans U Turns:Shariff

ISLAMABAD: In a U-turn, former premier Nawaz Sharif, who last week indicated that the captured Mumbai attacker Mohammad Ajmal Amir was a Pakistani, has said India should provide evidence for Islamabad to take action or else stop creating tension through "fake allegations".

"Pakistan, as a state and as a government, is not at all involved in the incident," the leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), said. "If India provides evidence to Pakistan, the country will look into them and take action."

Sharif said he would request president Asif Ali Zardari to take stern action if India provides evidence of the involvement of Pakistani elements in the terror attacks.

"If we get the evidence, I will personally go to president Zardari and ask him to take stern action against such people," Sharif said at a ceremony held ahead of Christmas at the chief minister's secretariat in Lahore on Tuesday.

If the Indian government does not have any evidence, it should avoid creating tensions through "fake allegations", he said.

Sharif's latest remarks follow his statement on Friday last when he indicated that Ajmal was from Pakistan, embarrassing the government here. "It has been said this individual named Ajmal hails from Faridkot village (in Pakistan's Punjab province). I have seen and I personally got this checked -- the village and its surrounding areas were cordoned off. His parents are not being allowed to meet anyone," Sharif had told Geo News.

But the PML-N chief on Tuesday said Pakistan would act immediately if the Indian government gave evidence of the attacks. Sharif said Pakistan wants friendly and peaceful relations with India and is committed to helping New Delhi hunt down the perpetrators of the attacks.

Terrorism is "poisonous for society" and nobody wants to live in a tense situation, he said. The former premier also warned the leadership of India and Pakistan against making irresponsible statements, saying this would further aggravate the situation.

Sharif said it would be better for the future of both countries if they resolved their differences through dialogue. India has blamed Pakistan-based elements, including the
banned Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group, for the Mumbai attacks.

It has asked Pakistan to take action against these elements. Pakistan has said it cannot push forward its probe into the attacks till India formally shares evidence with it.

Referring to the domestic political situation, Sharif said he did not believe in any minority or majority. He classified people who believed in the rule of law, supremacy of the Constitution, good governance, and independence of the judiciary as the majority in Pakistan. Those who wanted the status quo, concentration of national resources in a few hands, and violation of merit were in the minority, Sharif said.