New York, Sep 27 (Inditop.com) The Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries met here Saturday to prepare the ground for the crucial talks between their foreign ministers where India is expected to focus on terrorism and demand speedy action against 26/11 perpetrators.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir met at the Roosvelt Hotel, marking the first high-level contact between the two sides since the prime ministers of the two countries met at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in July.
Rao and Bashir whose meeting was delayed by about 45 minutes, are believed to have discussed the progress in investigations into the Mumbai terrorist attacks with India seeking decisive action against Hafiz Saeed, alleged mastermind of the strikes blamed on Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Rao and Bashir will report about their discussions to their foreign ministers, S.M. Krishna and Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who will meet here Sunday.
In the run-up to the meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a tough message, made it clear to Pakistan that it must stop state-sponsored terrorism to normalise relations with India.
“India’s message is that India seeks to normalise its relations with Pakistan. But the only obstacle is that Pakistan should give up its old attitude regarding the use of terror as an instrument of state policy,” Manmohan Singh told a post G-20 Summit press conference in Pittsburgh.
On the Mumbai attacks, he said: “We have supplied our material and evidence for them to carry out investigations. Although the tragedy took place in India, the conspiracy took place in Pakistan. Pakistan has admitted to this. We want them to bring to book the culprits involved in the Nov 26 attacks.”
Krishna has said that the Mumbai attacks would be the “focal point” of his talks with Qureshi.
In the run-up to the foreign ministers’ meeting India has expressed its unhappiness over Pakistan’s lack of progress in bringing those behind the Mumbai terrorist attacks to book.
