Ahead of Bhutan meet, India tells Pakistan again - act against terror
By IANSThursday, April 22, 2010
NEW DELHI - Barely a week ahead of a likely meeting between Indian and Pakistani leaders in Bhutan, the Indian government Thursday reminded Islamabad to take action against 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and stressed that although the door for dialogue was never closed, it would depend on effective action against terror.
“The government has repeatedly requested Pakistan, including in the recent meeting between foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan held in New Delhi on Feb 25, to act in an expeditious and transparent manner against all those responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attack, including Hafiz Saeed,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told the Rajya Sabha.
Krishna told parliament that India has made it clear to Pakistan to “take effective action to ban the anti-India activities of organizations such as Jamaat-ud-Dawa and their leaders, including Hafiz Saeed.” They have openly and blatantly espoused an agenda of violence and terrorism against India, Krishna said.
Linking a resumption of full-fledged dialogue with action against terror, Krishna said the Indian government has reiterated that “the door for dialogue with Pakistan has never been closed, and meaningful dialogue with Pakistan is possible only in an environment free of terror or threat of terror”.
Reminding Pakistan of its January 2004 pledge not to allow its territory to be used for anti-India activities, Krishna said that India has reiterated the need for Pakistan to fulfil this undertaking.
“Pakistan, in response, has assured that action will be taken against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack,” Krishna said.
Krishna’s remarks in parliament come six days before a likely meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in the Bhutanese capital Thimphu.
India’s reminder to Pakistan about fulfilling its anti-terror pledge underlines mounting frustration in New Delhi at the perceived lack of concrete action by Islamabad in punishing the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage, in which 166 people, including foreigners, were killed.
Although no meeting between the two leaders has been formally scheduled yet, Indian officials are not optimistic about any breakthrough in bilateral relations which dipped to a new low after the Mumbai attacks, that paused the composite dialogue process.
