India abhors 'political vacuum' in Pakistan

NEW DELHI(PPI) - India abhors "political vacuum" in Pakistan created by the tussle between President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan Peoples Party-led ruling coalition, says National Security Advisor MK Narayanan. In an interview published Tuesday he said New Delhi was seriously concerned that this vacuum could allow radical extremist outfits in Pakistan more space to step up their activities not only in Afghanistan but also in India. "Like nature abhors vacuum, we abhor political vacuum that exists in Pakistan," Narayanan told The Straits Times. "It greatly worries us." Pakistan's ruling coalition has vowed to impeach Musharraf unless he quits the Presidency. He said worry in India was not if Musharraf would be impeached or not but inability to identify "who controls all the levers" in Pakistan. "Whether he is impeached or not is not important from Indian point of view. It is for people of Pakistan to decide. But it leaves a big vacuum and we are deeply concerned about this vacuum because it leaves radical extremist outfits with freedom to do what they like, not merely on Pak-Afghan border but clearly our side of border too." Narayanan said during a meeting on sidelines of SAARC Summit in Colombo early this month Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani that it could not be "business as usual" between the two countries because what happened in Afghanistan was "fundamentally different" from what had happened before. "An attack on Indian Embassy in a foreign land clearly marked an entirely new stage in the levels of acrimony and violence," Narayanan said. "Therefore we expect something would be done than mere words. Manmohan did not raaise his voice but left nobody in that room in any doubt on where he stood."

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