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Jilani denies India accusations
NEW DELHI, India -- Ten diplomats, five Indian and five Pakistani, are being expelled from each other's country in tit-for-tat moves after India accused Pakistan's acting high commissioner, Jalil Abbas Jilani, of funnelling money to Kashmiri separatists. (Full story) Just hours before his departure, CNN's New Delhi bureau chief, Satinder Bindra, met exclusively with Jilani, and asked him about the allegations, first made after police arrested two Kashmiri activists -- one of them in front of Pakistan's high commissioner's offices -- and the future of Indo-Pakistani relations. A: We call it unfortunate because these are the kinds of things which had never happened before. You had never (before) accused the head of mission of a country of his involvement in such activities. This is a new precedent which is being set by the Indian Government which should not have taken place. Let me tell you that Pakistan has already denied these baseless allegations. I have denied it strongly. Investigations are still going on. The two accused have demanded to be released from custody and here, without awaiting the final verdict of the investigations, they [the diplomats] have been asked to leave the country. This is something which fits into the agenda of a particular regime in India. It fits into the agenda because it wants to project Pakistan in a certain light, it wants to paint the legitimate Kashmiri struggle as a terrorist movement. My expulsion, my involvement with this scandal is something that they have cooked up against me. Q: There's a great anger against the Pakistani Establishment within India. Many Indians continue to blame Pakistan for sponsoring cross-border terrorism in India. A: Let me tell you, those people, that the terrorism, the violence that is generated in Kashmir, that is also a consequence of the massive oppression that is going on in Kashmir. Q: But how do you categorize them? Are they terrorists or are they freedom fighters? A: Those people who are denied their legitimate right of self-determination, those people in case they are brutalized by the security forces and if they take an action in order to defend themselves, I wouldn't really call it terrorism, I would call it a legitimate freedom struggle. Q: But if they are killing women and children and innocent civilians? A: No, I tell you that no government on earth, no individual on earth, can condone the killing of innocent women and children. That is something that Pakistan has always condemned. Q: So what are the implications for future India-Pakistan relations? A: I am leaving this country still with some hope and a sense that the time will ultimately come when both the countries will get back to the negotiating table in order to resolve their disputes through peaceful means.
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