Sir — After repeated attacks on and the killing of Indian security personnel at the border, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is now reported to have said that “India and Pakistan must become good friends, hold each other’s hands; sit together with an open and clean heart.
” The suggestion is laughable. It is like first pinching the baby and then rocking its cradle. While India has all along been maintaining cordial relations with Pakistan, our gesture has been treated as an act of weakness by the Pakistani rulers.
Before issuing such syrupy suggestions, Mr Sharif should adopt and implement friendship in letter and spirit. He must punish those guilty of killing and mutilating Indian soldiers and ensure that his Army does not violate the basic ceasefire norms and indulge in unprovoked firing at the line of Control. Else, his honey-coated avowals of friendship will at best remain empty words.