Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said the recent statements of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were devoid of facts and could affect the atmosphere of friendship between India and Pakistan.
Talking to newsmen here on Friday, Sheikh Rashid said the statements of Manmohan Singh in the United States were disappointing and not based on facts. Pakistan's nuclear programme was in very safe hands and could not fall into the hands of the extremists, he reiterated.
Responding to the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about nuclear proliferation, he said that actions of one man could not represent character of the whole nation. The statements of the Indian Prime Minister would create problems for the two countries, he added.
Sheikh Rashid expressed hope that Indian Prime Minister and Afghan President Hamid Karzai would avoid unfriendly statements about Pakistan during their interactions with the world leaders.
He said Pakistan had extended hand of friendship to India and was committed to extend the friendship further.
He termed foreign propaganda about existence of any training camp in Pakistan as baseless and added that it went to the credit of Pakistan that terrorism was on the retreat in the world. If Pakistan had not played its role, the world would have been in the grip of terrorism.
To a question about the ongoing crackdown against religious extremists, he said so for not more than 200 people had been arrested adding that operation was only against members of the defunct organisations who were continuing their activities under the banner of other organisations.
He clarified that the crackdown was not the result of any external pressure but was initiated according to the prevailing conditions in the country. To another question, he said the address of President General Pervez Musharraf had received a very positive response.
The President urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to set the situation right in Britain to effectively combat terrorism, he added.