Terror originating from Pakistan unacceptable to world: Sarkozy (Second Lead)

MUMBAI - Promising to be with India to ensure justice in 26/11, French President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday said New Delhi had shown remarkable restraint after the attack. He emphasized it was unacceptable for terror to originate from Pakistan.

“I want to tell you that we will never forget (the terrorist attack on Mumbai) and will be with India so that justice is rendered,” he said at a 26/11 commemorative function in Oberoi-Trident Hotel here.

“The Mumbai attack proved one more time that terrorism is nothing but criminal activity. It pretends to act for political or religious objectives, but it is just savagery. It pretends to serve ideals but it injures them through its acts,” Sakozy said in French.

Terrorists from Pakistan sneaked into Mumbai in November 2008 and went on a killing spree, leaving at least 166 people dead. Many of them were foreigners and included two French nationals. The Oberoi-Trident hotel was also attacked.

Sarkozy said, “We know of the price the Pakistan population is paying for terrorism but it is not acceptable for the world that terrorist attacks originate from or (terrorists) are trained in Pakistan.”

He also praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for showing restraint after the Mumbai strike.

“The Indian prime minister has shown remarkable restraint following the attack and is continuing the dialogue with Pakistan and has tenaciously created the politics of dialogue, which France supports,” said Sarkozy.

“For us all who are explicitly threatened by the Al Qaida and its accomplices, it is not enough to protect ourselves from such attacks. We must find a way to prevent them from repeating themselves. It is not acceptable that terrorist groups operating from neighbouring territories are able to threaten the security of India,” said Sarkozy.

“It is not acceptable for Afghanistan and our troops in Afghanistan that Taliban and Al Qaida should find refuge in the frontier zones of Pakistan.”

While the French president was dressed in a black suit, blue shirt and a navy blue tie, his wife Carla Bruni stood beside him, wearing a white outfit.

Sarkozy said France values its relations with Pakistan. “A Pakistan which is democratic, stable and prosperous, is in the interest of this region and the world,” he said.

“France itself has been menaced and blackmailed by Islamist terrorists to whom it will not give in and France has intensified its efforts to eradicate terrorism,” he added.

Sarkozy is on the last leg of a four-day visit to India that began Dec 4.