New Delhi: India is not passionate about making peace with Pakistan, Pakistan's prime minister was reported as saying on Friday, days before officials of the two countries are due to hold peace talks.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's comments were made in an interview to Indian weekly magazine Outlook.
"I believe you must have a passion for peace," a statement from the magazine quoted Aziz as saying.
"We in Pakistan, President (Pervez) Musharraf and I, have a passion for peace. I have yet to see this passion on the part of India," Aziz said.
A slow-moving peace process between the two countries suffered a severe blow after Indian investigators pointed fingers at a Pakistan-based Islamist militant group and Pakistan's military intelligence agency for the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, in which more than 180 people were killed.
India, under pressure from mounting public anger, called off talks between foreign secretaries of the two countries scheduled this month in New Delhi to review their peace process.
But the two officials and their ministers are due to meet on the sidelines of a South Asian conference in Bangladesh next week and hold informal negotiations.
Aziz dismissed India's charges against Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Pakistani militant group suspected to be behind the train bombings in Mumbai.
"We don't see any evidence of their activity that's prejudicial," the magazine statement quoted him as saying.
"We have done a lot to transform some of these people." India and Pakistan launched fresh moves to make peace after coming near the brink of a fourth war in 2002.
India says Pakistan has not done enough to curb Islamist militants known to be operating on its soil.
Pakistan on the other hand, said it has done all it could to tackle them. It has denied any connection with the Mumbai bombings and offered to help in the investigations, turned down by India.
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