New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday spoke for the first time on the Indo-Pak talks held in Islamabad earlier this month.
Addressing a joint press conference in New Delhi with visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron, Dr Singh criticised the Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi for speaking too soon and too much.
"His comments were too close to the event to pass a judgement on themeeting. The way the press conference was handled by Pakistan Foreignminister could have been avoided because it detracts from largerelements of agreement reached," the Prime Minister said. (
Watch: Qureshi's comments were avoidable, says PM)
The Prime Minister also said after 9/11, the world community has realised that terrorism constitutes a serious threat to civilised societies of the world and no cause could justify it.
"I sincerely hope that the government of Pakistan will honour its commitments given to me and my predecessor that Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used for terror activities," Dr Singh said.
He, however, hoped that the Qureshi will visit India.
And despite Pakistan's criticism, British Prime Minister David Cameron did not change his stand and reiterated that his country "will not accept any terror group within Pakistan".
"We will encourage Pakistan to crack down on terror groups," Cameron said while addressing a joint press conference with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Thursday. (
Watch: Terror groups in Pak unacceptable, says Cameron)
He also said, "We will discuss with the Pakistan leadership frankly, clearly and openly on steps to contain terror from its soil."
But at the same time, Cameron said "we must be fair to Pak, as they have taken anti-terror steps".
On a two-day visit to India, the British Prime Minister had earlier said that Pakistan must not be allowed to "promote the export of terror" to the world. In an
exclusive interview to NDTV's Prannoy Roy on Wednesday, Cameron said, "It's unacceptable for anything to happen in Pakistan that is responsible for promotion of terrorism elsewhere.
The British Prime Minister also endorsed the views of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who asked the world community to press Pakistan to fulfil its commitments to end terrorism directed against India with equal seriousness as on the western border with Afghanistan.