India has made it clear to Pakistan that another incident like 26/11 attack can derail the peace process between the two countries. Talking to media persons onboard the aircraft on his way to Delhi from Male after completing four-day visit to Maldives ,The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said that he impressed upon the Pakistan Prime Minister Mr Gilan that the people of India feel that the peace process can not move forward unless the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack are brought to justice.
Asserting that he is not putting blind faith in his Pakistani counterpart Mr Yousuf Raza Gilani for pushing bilateral dialogue, Dr. Manmohan Singh said that the Pakistan armed forces are on board on the peace process. He said that India wants to strengthen the hands of civilian government in Pakistan.
Answering a volley of questions on various issues including the rising prices, the Prime Minister described the spurt in inflation as a cause of concern but attributed it to country's growing economy. He said a wide gap between demand and supply particularly of perishable items has resulted in continuous rise in inflation.
The Prime Minister said that the rise in prices of petoleum products in the international market too has been a cause of price rise and inflation in the country.
He said that since a major portion of country's oil needs are met through import only, in the wake of increase of international oil prices, the government has only two options of either increasing the domestic oil prices or absorbing the burden by making budgetary arrangement of subsidies. In both cases, inflation is bound to rise. Referring to Telengana issue, Dr Singh described it as a complicated issue and said that efforts are underway to engage all the stakeholders to arrive at a lasting solution.
Describing his visit to Maldives as very fruitful, Dr Manmohan Singh said the 17th SAARC summit created awareness about the strengths and limitations of member countries and the need for better cooperation among themselves.
In this respect, Dr Singh reminded that one can change his friends but not his neighbours. Answering questions about the bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SAARC summit, the Prime Minister said that the SriLankan President Mr Mehinda Rajpaksa assured that he will see that the Indian fishermen's issue as well as the resettlement of Tamil refugees are settled in humanitarian manner. About his meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said the Teesta problem need a national consensus for an amicable solution.
On Afghanistan, the Prime Minister said that the Afghanistan President Mr Hamid Karzai told him that the recently signed strategic Partnership has been universally welcomed in his country. He said that the Nepalese Prime Minister Mr Baburam Bhaattarai assured him that he will work even harder to take the ongoing peace process in his country further.
