Pakistan: China moves to defuse tension with India

Politics
Pakistan: China moves to defuse tension with India
Islamabad, 29 Dec. (AKI) - China has moved to assure Pakistan that it would act to defuse tension between Pakistan and India following the Mumbai terror attacks. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, He Yafei was in Islamabad on Monday for meetings with the Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and other senior officials.He also met Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior, Rehman Malik, and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Tariq Majid.During his meeting with Pakistan's foreign minister, the official said his country wanted peace in the region and India and Pakistan should resolve all issues through dialogue. Yafei urged India to share evidence with Pakistan on the November attacks in which at least 170 people died and at least 308 were injured during the siege.The sole Mumbai gunman to be captured alive is alleged to have told his interrogators he was recruited and trained by Lashkar-e-Toiba, the banned militant Kashmiri separatist group. Indian police said all of the 10 gunmen allegedly responsible for the Mumbai attacks came from various cities throughout Pakistan.Kayani is reported to have stressed the need to avoid conflict with India, days after he ordered troops to the countries' shared border.Kayani's remarks were believed to be his first about the tensions with Pakistan's traditional rival and could help ease tension in the region and prevent the crisis from escalating further.Last week Pakistani intelligence officials said thousands of troops were being moved to the Indian border and Pakistani Air Force planes were reported to be flying above the major cities of Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed was placed under house arrest for three months on Thursday. Earlier in the day he vowed to challenge in Pakistani and international courts the United Nations Security Council's decision to place Jamaat-ud-Dawa on its list of terrorist organisations.The Security Council said on Wednesday Jamaat-ud-Dawa was a front for banned militant Kashmiri separatist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba.Saeed quit Lashkar-e-Toiba's leadership in 2001 and became head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, as the group renamed itself in 2002. It has been operating as a legal charity in Pakistan.