John Kerry to ask Pakistan to rein in jihadi groups

NEW DELHI - United States Senator John Kerry Monday told India that he will tell Pakistan to take more action against jihadi groups that are targeting India from its soil.

Kerry, on a short visit to Delhi, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday afternoon. National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon was also present during the meeting.

According to sources, Kerry, chairman of the US senate Foreign Relations Committee and former presidential candidate, assured the prime minister that he will ask Pakistan to put more pressure against extremist groups that are launching attacks against India.

He also discussed the Pune bomb blast which killed nine people, including three foreign nationals — an Italian woman, an Iranian student and a Nepali waiter. The US has already offered help in investigating the attack.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram Sunday pointed out that the area of the blast was visited in 2008 by Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley, who is now in US custody.

Kerry had a 20-minute meeting with Manmohan Singh in the afternoon during which they discussed bilateral relations as well as the wider theatre of South Asia, especially the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Kerry, who arrived in Delhi Sunday, had a separate meeting with Defence Minister A.K. Antony.

His visit assumed significance as it comes before India and Pakistan are to have their first significant foreign secretary-level contact after the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks ghat left 166 people killed, including some foreigners.

Kerry’s last visit to New Delhi was in December 2008 just after 26/11, when he told an angry Indian government that Pakistan will be asked to do more to dismantle the terror infrastructure on its territory.

The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are scheduled to meet Feb 25 in Delhi. The Indian government has indicated that the talks are going ahead despite the bomb blast in Pune.

Kerry will leave for Islamabad Monday night.