Pakistan has assured speedy trial of 26/11 accused: India

NEW DELHI - Ahead of a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Bhutan Thursday, the government told parliament that Islamabad has promised a successful conclusion of the Mumbai attack trial which is going on in Pakistan.

\”In these meetings, India has reiterated the need for Pakistan to fulfill its repeated assurances, including those given at the highest level, not to allow the territory under its control for terrorism directed against India,\” Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur told the Lok Sabha Wednesday, while giving details of the talks between India and Pakistan in the last three years.

\”Pakistan has assured us that action will be taken against the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack,\” Kaur said.

\”The foreign secretary of Pakistan conveyed the desire of the government to make all possible efforts for a successful conclusion of the Mumbai attack trial which is ongoing in Pakistan,\” Kaur said while alluding to the Feb 25 talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries.

Kaur also noted that the dialogue process has strengthened people-to-people contacts and added that some progress has been made on humanitarian issues such as the signing of the consular access agreement in May 2008 and release of some prisoners and fishermen.

India suspended the composite dialogue with Pakistan after the Nov 26-29, 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai in which several Pakistani nationals were involved.

Manmohan Singh will meet Gilani on the sidelines of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Thimphu Thursday, the first meeting between the two leaders since they met in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in July last year.

India is likley to press for speedy conclusion of the trial of the 26/11 accused and action against Hafiz Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the suspected mastermind of the Mumbai carnage.